Council Agenda Item 79
Subject: Deputations from members of the public.
Date of meeting: 1 February 2024
A period of not more than fifteen minutes shall be allowed at each ordinary meeting of the Council for the hearing of deputations from members of the public. Each deputation may be heard for a maximum of five minutes following which one Member of the council, nominated by the mayor, may speak in response. It shall then be moved by the mayor and voted on without discussion that the spokesperson for the deputation be thanked for attending and its subject matter noted.
Notification of one Deputation has been received. The spokesperson is entitled to speak for 5 minutes.
(1) Deputation concerning allocating lead professionals to cases of vulnerable (especially homeless) adults
Supported by:
Clare Whitworth
Simon Back
Naomi Joinson
Barbara Knights
Helen Bedford
Laurie Whitworth
Summary of deputation:
I would like to raise some local issues which I believe are extremely important for the committee to hear and consider acting on to safeguard vulnerable people in the city. I will detail the issues below and follow up with some background information and why it is so important to me to raise these points.
Firstly, I would like to discuss the need for Brighton and Hove Council to consider the need for a lead professional to be allocated to the cases of vulnerable (especially homeless) adults to ensure multi agency and inter professional communication. The lead professional/agency should take ownership to ensure relevant information held to support and safeguard vulnerable people in the city is communicated between multi agency and interpersonal teams.
I would like to discuss how previous Serious Case Reviews undertaken by Brighton and Hove Safeguarding Adults Board, have already recommended that the agency’s working with Brighton and Hove City Council need to communicate and collaborate effectively. However, having read past Serious Case Reviews I can see suggestions for change are not always implemented.
I would like to discuss the need and reasons whys those moved into temporary accommodation out of county to have access/remain under the care of their GP and other health services that know them and their needs.
I would like to suggest that temporary accommodation is checked for mental health/physical health needs not just structural safety as is the current procedure. Receptionists at temporary accommodation are not trained support workers as shouldn’t be treated as such by the council. Those in temporary accommodation should have access to cooking facilities such as a microwave and a shared washing machine.
I would like to talk about how Adult Social Care interact with vulnerable people and their discharge criteria. What methods have they used to work with the known vulnerable person before discharge.
I hope that the housing department will review how family are treated after a sudden death. I would like to mention how it feels from a bereaved family's perspective and what would help families suffer unnecessarily in the future. Training needs to be given with appropriate timelines.
To summarise I would like to discuss the safeguarding around vulnerable homeless people in the community, communication and collaboration between agencies within the city, access to familiar GP and health services for homeless people in the city and lastly suitably and assessment of temporary accommodation out of county.
(2) Deputation concerning Air Quality
Supported by:
Dr Lauren Davis
Dr I N Stevenson
Dr Dominic Nee
Dr Charles Kind
Mr Adrian Hill
Summary of deputation:
Labour, the Green party and Conservatives unanimously voted for the Air Quality Action Plan in November 2022, promising to reduce pollution in our city. The action plan rightly noted that current air pollution in Brighton Hove causes ill health and premature deaths, making it a key concern for residents. The action plan outlined priority measures to improve air quality, including a full clean air zone and a smoke control area, which were noted as some of the most effective measures included in the plan, and ones required to meet the council’s agreed pollution targets and "significantly" reduce emissions. We are therefore extremely disappointed that little progress has been made on these key measures to date, and that Labour have abandoned pre-election promises of curbing vehicle emissions.
The action plan committed to targets such as lowering particulate matter to 8.7ug/m3 by the end of this year, 2024. This is despite there being no safe level for particulate matter and the proposed level exceeding WHO guidelines. And yet, even this unambitious target is unlikely to be achieved, as there has been no substantial reduction, nor sufficient action taken to reduce pollution levels, since these targets were set.
Air pollution affects everyone, even if you don’t have an underlying condition that makes you more vulnerable. As a doctor, I see the effects of poor air quality in this city everyday, and I’d like you to imagine seeing these too. Imagine working in children’s A&E and seeing countless children with breathing difficulties. Imagine seeing a toddler with wheeze and respiratory distress, and seeing that their nursery is adjacent to one of the busiest streets in the city. Imagine not being able to give advice to parents of a child with asthma, to avoid polluted streets on the school run, because there are no un-polluted streets in our city. Imagine being that parent, who does everything they can to improve their child’s health, and yet is powerless to prevent the harm they are
suffering from the air they breathe. You have that power. So far, you have offered vulnerable people in our city a sticking plaster, in targeting idling emissions.
People with illnesses have made decisions about their lives based on the five year action plan, such as whether to stay or to move away from Brighton. Can you assure us that the council’s air pollution targets will be met by the end of the year and explain exactly how? Have air quality scientists approved the new plans?
Have you abandoned this important clean air strategy? We hope you have not. We heard the transport chair Cllr Muten say you have abandoned the clean air zone expansion. You must reconsider its implementation if you are serious about cleaning up our air. If you continue with this hard line approach will you be reissuing the report to show how you will achieve those targets, or will you be crossing your fingers and hoping air quality improves without any action or leadership from yourselves?
You have a duty to vulnerable people in Brighton & Hove to let them know where they stand.
(3) Deputation concerning introducing parking restrictions in Nevill Road and Nevill Avenue, Hove
Supported by:
Don Lee
Mark Bellchambers
Norma Riley
Rosi Porter
Robert Cook
Andrew Jones
Tommy Sowerby
Kerry Sellers
Sean O’Brien
Jenny Herbert
Helen Stafford
Sarah Easter
Summary of deputation:
As residents of Nevill Road and Nevill Avenue, we are increasingly worried about road safety for ourselves, our visitors, and the primary and secondary school children from the surrounding schools.
There has been a problem for a few years with employees from Legal & General and Lloyds TSB using the roads to park during the day. Train passengers using both Hove and Aldrington stations do the same.
Since further parking restrictions have been brought in across Hove, notably around Hove Park, our roads have seen significant increases in long-term parking. Most noticeable are vehicles such as campervans, trade vans, and other large vehicles. Volumes increase at the weekends and during holiday periods.
This situation will only get worse for residents when the new Sackville Estate development opens. The problem will be further compounded when the planned housing in the Orchard Road area opens. These new developments will have insufficient parking for the number of homes being built.
I’m well aware of the situation from my own experience and from reading all the comments shared by residents post consultation. These parked vehicles, particularly the Campervans and trade vans, block the line-of-sight onto our busy roads. The average speed on the roads is 37mph, according to police speed monitoring. The speed limit is 20mph. This makes pulling out of driveways extremely dangerous, not only for us, but also for cyclists. The latter are predominantly school children going to and from the local primary and secondary schools.
Councillor Ivan Lyons sent out the consultation following contact with all residents in Nevill Road and Nevill Avenue up to the Holmes Avenue boundary (all part of the Westdean and Hove Park ward).
The results from the survey were as follows. 123 households responded, 63 residents want a light touch scheme, 14 a full permit scheme and 46 want to retain free parking. 62.6% of responders are seeking a parking restriction scheme. We urge the Administration to take our request seriously, especially as there will be more limited parking than there is now and when the enforcement to restrict parking on the pavements of Nevill Road starts.
Supporting information:
Signatures in support of this action from residents of Nevill Road and Nevill Avenue (I have 25 other consents, from residents who also requested to be added to the deputation).
(4) Deputation concerning The Ridgway, Woodingdean
Supported by:
Ian Leak (lead spokesperson) and Vanessa Leak
Peter Aaen and Keidi Varlasson
Helen Atkinson and Geoff Atkinson
Amelie Saint-Martin
Summary of deputation:
As a resident of 134a The Ridgway, Woodingdean for over 20 years, I and my neighbours at 132 and 113 have experienced serious and consistent flooding to our properties from road surface water.
Moreover, the rate of incidents has risen dramatically in recent years; we have experienced 10 floods over a 14 month period with many near misses too.
Each of these incidents are miserable and stressful unpredictable events that cause physical damage and inconvenience cleaning up the aftermath. It is stressful too having a constant uncertainty about when and how serious the next flood will be. We do not sleep well when heavy rain is forecast - during the night we will be checking the road drains outside and adjacent to our properties.
This situation is completely unacceptable, and we need the council to take responsibility for this ongoing and serious problem. We need the council to take urgent action to make changes to materially improve and fix the road surface drainage and prevent what has become almost a monthly frequency of flooding to our properties.
During heavy rain, the road drains in the Ridgway and surrounding roads become overwhelmed. The excess surface water flows on to the drains outside of our properties where the accumulation rises quickly and floods down our driveways to the house. Our garden becomes a lake and water can rise to 18-24 inches in front of the property if no one is there to help sweep the water away. The problems are similar for the other properties at 132 and 113.
We have no warning when the flood will happen - its more akin to a flash flood when the drains are overwhelmed. This typically lasts for 30-45mins during which time all excess surface water from the Ridgway and surrounding roads flows down our driveways. It’s a staggering amount of water and flows like a river at great speed and without our attendance will enter the house.
When this happens its chaos. If we are fortunate enough to be home or awake (if at night), we, along with my neighbours including 134b, desperately try to block, sweep or divert the water around our properties to prevent our houses flooding. There have been occasions when we have been away, or it has happened during the night. As a result, we have had water damage to carpets, flooring, furniture in the house and to equipment stored in our garages. The problem is similar for 132 and 113. On occasions (2 in the last 12 months) we have had sewage water flood, along with the surface water, on to our properties, leaving a sediment and smell on our driveway, side alley and rear garden. We have contacted the Highways Agency on every flooding occasion and Southern Water for the sewage problems. Whilst these agencies do attend, this is always after the event, and they will often seek to place the responsibility on the other party. Some limited action has been taken but we have been told that the Highways agency cannot take any significant action due to lack of budgets and the problem persists. There has been no additional highways infrastructure for many years here, whilst incremental housing development has continued and more water is accumulating now with the overwhelming impact all falling onto our properties almost monthly, causing stress, costly physical damage, and a risk to our health.
We desperately need more road surface water infrastructure to capture heavy rainwater; it’s currently too easily overwhelmed.
What action and when will the Council take to address and resolve this serious and increasing problem?
Supporting information:
Appendix – The Ridgeway, Woodingdean