Moves to restrict To Let boards in predominantly student areas of Sheffield are under, adding to existing measures already underway or being considered in seven other cities.

These include Brighton, Liverpool, Durham, Belfast, Leicester, Newcastle and London.

In Sheffield a local campaigner, retired 57-year-old Tony Flatley, has raised a petition to persuade the city council to ask the Secretary of State for powers to control To Let boards in the city’s mainly student areas including Walkely (pictured), Crookes, Broomhill and Sharrow.

“With the number of ‘to let’ boards that are up, it’s the visual impact, but it’s also the fact that actually it’s a burglar’s paradise,” he told local newspaper The Star. “It highlights areas where burglars can go in and steal while the houses are empty.”

Flatly says he believes most student and many other tenants now find their properties online and that new restrictions “would not affect agents too much”.

“For the people that live in these areas, it has quite a large impact,” he said.

“My petition will go in front of Sheffield Council on February 1. The point for me is just to get discussion started.”

Meanwhile, in Durham – the latest city to embark on plans to control To Let boards – a consultation is about to start after a voluntary landlord scheme, started in 2009, failed to reduce the number of boards in the city centre. Initially, landlords were restricted to one board per street but after the council reported repeated ‘breaches’ of the agreement, tighter regulation is now being considered.