TOUGHER city-wide restrictions on new shared houses are weeks away from coming into force in Brighton and Hove.

The rule changes, which take effect in June, were flagged up as councillors debated a ten-year blueprint for homes, jobs and the environment at a “virtual” meeting.

Further changes would limit the number of student houses and other shared houses across “wider neighbourhood areas” to 20 per cent.

Brighton and Hove City Council already tries to limit the number of new shared houses – known as HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) – through licensing rules and when owners seek planning permission.

Currently, an application can be turned down if more than ten per cent of homes within a 50-metre radius are already HMOs.

The tougher rules were included among a package of measures contained in the ten-year planning blueprint known as City Plan Part Two.

At the “virtual” meeting of the full council, it was greed to give the public six weeks to comment on the latest version of the City Plan document.

The council will then ask the Government to approve the bundle of policies contained in the City Plan which will be used to help councillors and officials to decide future planning applications.

The original rules aimed at limiting the number of family homes being converted into shared houses initially applied to the council electoral wards closest to the two universities. But last year councillors voted to extend the scheme across the whole of Brighton and Hove.

Labour councillor Nick Childs said the extended rules would make it easier for the council to manage the concentrations of shared houses across a wider area.

The Labour leader of the council Nancy Platts said: “We want to bring in tougher management of houses in multiple occupation to reflect residents’ concerns about high concentrations in some parts of the city. If passed, I believe we will have the strictest HMO policies in the country.”

The new policy is intended to tackle some of the indirect effects on communities, such as reduced demand for school places, rather than focusing on the effect on individual homes.

The new rules should also prevent family homes being sandwiched between two student houses and should prevent three shared properties in a row from being turned into shared houses.

There are already about 5,000 licenced HMOs in Brighton and Hove. The vast majority are in five electoral wards: Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, Hanover and Elm Grove, Hollingdean and Stanmer, Queen’s Park and St Peters and North Laine.