OXFORD City Council is part of a consortium asking for a judicial review of a Government decision that landlords wanting to turn family homes into student bedsits do not need to get planning permission.

The councils claim the Government failed to carry out required consultation before scrapping the policy on HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) last week.

City council deputy leader Ed Turner said planning powers to tackle the spread of student bedsits were adopted by the Town Hall in April, but revoked by the new Coalition Government in September.

They had allowed the council to limit HMOs in parts of the city it felt were being overrun, by refusing planning permission.

But he said the new rules meant landlords did not need council permission to convert family homes – leaving the council powerless to stop a student accommodation “free for all”.

Mr Turner said: “In a city with more than 30,000 students you need some sort of planning control, some means of regulating that.”

Oxford has an estimated 5,000 HMOs, one of the highest levels in the country.

But the Government said under its new policy, councils could apply for an “Article 4” direction requiring landlords to submit planning applications for a change of use in areas with high concentrations of HMOs.

The Government has been asked to submit its defence of the claim to the High Court this week and the case is due to be determined next week.