More HMOs in Shirebrook?

October 19, 2025

2 minutes read

It’s up to you – do you want more HMOs in Shirebrook or not? At this very moment, there is a huge battle over it with the Labour-led BDC. For years, Shirebrook was their dumping ground. They gave HMO licences left and right, and if you believe reports, there are more HMOs in Shirebrook than in the whole District combined.

HELP!
I rarely ask readers of S247 for help, but this time I must plead directly: Councillor Sarah Reaney and councillors of STC are trying to block the handing out of new HMO licences in Shirebrook, and they need your help. At this point, all you have to do is send an email to sarah.reaney@derbyshire.gov.uk and express your discontent or share your bad experiences with HMOs.

Send it before Labour spreads their hands again saying: “we couldn’t do anything/it’s not our fault” and put few more HMOs, maybe this time right in front of your house.

IT’S LIKE NO ONE REPRESENTS US IN BDC
It is not the residents’ obligation to fight against BDC’s dishonest and harmful policy towards our town – it’s the obligation of our democratically elected representatives. Unfortunately, our “representatives” decided to turn Shirebrook into the District dump. Then, they abandoned us.

But there are a few who are still trying to fight for Shirebrook. However, without our support, these representatives face an incredibly difficult task.

MORE HMOs? LABOUR WILL PROVIDE!
Since Labour-led BDC placed 20 HMOs here and no one protests against it – why wouldn’t Labour add another 20? Or 40? Or turn the town into a hotel for illegal immigrants? They’ve been doing this since December last year – quietly, step by step. They’re cooking us like a frog, so that at election time they can again fill leaflets with lofty slogans, lies and assurances that they’ll work for us.

You get what you vote for.

CHANGE IS IN YOUR HANDS
In 2021, your hands, for the first time in 120 years, put into STC a right-wing representative. Not much changed, but at least some hidden stuff came to light, and people started to think and change their minds.

In 2025, even more hands voted right. For the first time ever, Shirebrook elected a right-wing representative for the County Council. It was just a few months ago, but you can already see change – potholes are fixed, the County Councillor comes to STC meetings, she starts initiatives trying to fix some of the injustices and wakes up the town even more. It’s up to us to take advantage of her energy. Send that e-mail. Protest against HMOs in Shirebrook!

IF NOT YOU – WHO?
In a brief conversation with Sarah Reaney, I learned that she’s trying to activate “Article 4” – I don’t want to go into details but in short, this would block the granting of further licences for running HMOs in Shirebrook. To increase the chances of success in this mission – Cllr Reaney needs as many stories as possible from people living in Shirebrook wards who don’t want HMOs in town.

Tell your neighbour about it, ask your wife, husband and siblings – sending an e-mail literally takes a fraction of time that could save us enormous tragedy in the future.

One more time, one minute of your time. Send e-mail here: sarah.reaney@derbyshire.gov.uk