The purpose of this consultation was to inform local residents and businesses about proposals to demolish Windlesham House, Windlesham Close, Portslade, BN41 1SN and build 17 new council homes.

The intention of the consultation is to show early proposals for the new council homes and gather feedback which will inform the developing design and form part of a report to Housing Committee Members, requesting to progress the project to planning stage.

Consultation methodology

The consultation ran between 18 October 2019 and 8 November 2019. Responses received after 8 November will be considered, but do not feature in this consultation report.

Residents were notified of the consultation with a leaflet posted 18 October 2019. The leaflet included an invitation to a public exhibition of designs and provided contact information to find out more about the project. Leaflets were posted to:

· 54-84 Old Shoreham Road

· Portslade Court

· Evelyn Court

· Cowhayes Court

· 37-51 Locks Crescent

· Horsfield Court

· Hyundai Portslade

Leaflets were sent to the above addresses as these properties are within visual distance of the site or are most likely to be affected by the proposed building and construction process, in line with the council’s new homes consultation procedure.

A public exhibition was hosted at Portslade Village Centre on 24 October 2019 between 16:00 and 19:30.

Plans were also exhibited to residents at Evelyn Court on 10 October 2019 and Portslade Community Forum on 17 October 2019.

The Portslade Community Forum kindly posted details of the exhibition on Facebook, inviting a wider audience to attend the exhibition if they wished.

Residents could provide feedback on the proposal by various methods: email, post, in person at an exhibition, or via the council’s website.

Response analysis

A total of 27 written responses were received in the consultation period.

· 17 responses were received via online portal

· 5 responses were received via exhibition feedback forms

· 4 responses were received via posted feedback forms

· 1 response was received via post

20 responses were received from residents living within 500 metres of the site, four responses were received from locations within a 3.5 mile distance and one response from outside of the city. Two responses provided no postcode information

Of the 27 written responses, 4 featured only positive feedback, 2 featured both positive and negative feedback, and 21 featured only negative feedback.

The below table lists the number of times a subject is mentioned. As each response may include a number of subjects, the number of mentions does not tally with the number of responses.

Subject	Number of mentions
Loss of parking / not enough parking for new residents	17
Loss of privacy /overlooking	13
Overcrowding / too many flats	13
Building is too high / too big	12
Traffic generation / dangerous crossing road	12
Loss of daylight	8
Nice / good / great idea	6
Noise and disturbance from new residents	5
Threat to wildlife	5
Access for construction	5
Property prices dropping	4
Loss of lawn outside of Portslade Court	4
Ugly building / does not suit character of the area	4
Construction will be disruptive / make people anxious	3
Removing trees	2
Rise in crime and vandalism due to new residents	2
Don’t want to live next to council tenants	2
Too close to Portslade Court	2
Loss of view	2
Water drainage and sewage issues	2
Building will be used as emergency accommodation	1
Balconies will be nice for new residents	1
New residents will put a strain on local services	1
New residents will fly tip	1
Too much housing development in the area	1
Proposed homes are too small	1
Council will not listen to feedback	1
Do not want restricted parking in the area	1

In no particular order, the below improvements to the proposal were suggested by respondents verbally or in writing:

· Include more parking in the design.

· Consider a non-housing use for the current building e.g. a mental health and social service for the elderly and lonely.

· Reduce the size and/or height of the building.

· Reduce the number of flats.

· Allow new residents to have pets.

· Build new homes elsewhere.

· Charge low rents to new residents.

· Move the building further away from Portslade Court, and do not build on the green space.

· Build houses or bungalows instead.

· Consider naming the block Iris Court after Iris Harding who ran the Day Club from 1960 until 2010.

· Ensure emergency vehicle access during and after construction.

· Undertake a traffic survey before submitting a planning application.

· Provide different development options to residents.

· Produce a parking plan for the development.

· Do not have south facing balconies.

· Make Windlesham Close one way for traffic.

· Create chevron parking bays next to the allotments to create extra parking.

· Design a taller block of flats on the footprint of the WRVS community centre.

· Build on open spaces instead of Windlesham House, for example: the allotments, East Hill Park or Vale Park.

· Communicate to a wider group of residents.

· Produce a report showing the changes to the property and explain design decisions.

· Will the outside be made of brick or brick style panels?

· Install outdoor amenities for children in the garden next door.

· Install green roofs.

· Replace glass balconies with opaque glass or solid balconies as these offer more privacy.

Response to feedback

The council will endeavour to incorporate feedback into designs wherever possible.

To address the loss of parking and parking for new residents, the council has identified an area south of the site where new parking bays for residents can be created. This will increase the number of new spaces to 11. Space in which residents currently park, west of Portslade Court, would be built on, therefore a traffic survey of the local area will be carried out to assess the impact of the proposed development on local traffic and parking.

To address the loss of privacy, overlooking, and development being too close to Portslade Court, designs have been altered to move the building a further 5m from Portslade Court (the initial design showed the nearest points between buildings as around 11.2m). Through the next stage of design, the location and arrangement of balconies and windows will be reviewed to reduce or eliminate overlooking to nearby properties wherever possible.

The council does not consider the proposed number of flats to be too high or size of the building to be too big. It is felt the density of the proposed development is suitable and meets the council’s aims for delivering much needed affordable homes in the city.

To address concerns for the safety of pedestrians with increased traffic in the area, the council will identify and carry out improvements to road safety including for example, pavements and crossings as part of the design process.

To measure the sunlight, daylight and overshowing impact on neighbours, a survey will be carried out and appropriate mitigations incorporated into the design if necessary.

Email: estate.regeneration@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Post: Estate Regeneration Team, Brighton & Hove City Council, Hove Town Hall, Norton Road, Hove, BN3 3BQ