Council Agenda Item 18
Subject: Deputations from members of the public.
Date of meeting: 23 July 2026
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 that three deputations have been received. The spokesperson is entitled to speak for 5 minutes.
1. Brighton 53 Tram Project
Supported by:
Guy Hall (lead spokesperson)
Mark Harrison
Keith Carter
Harry Winter
Peter Field
Blay Whitby
Phil Hamerton
Summary of Deputation:
Good afternoon, councillors, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Guy Hall and I am the chairman of the Brighton tram 53 society, which for the last 16 years has been restoring the last Brighton passenger tram, number 53. We have also started work on a second heritage tram, the former Brighton works car, number 1. Both trams are being restored to running order. We are a registered charity and have raised over a £130,000 by ourselves, without any outside grants.
Last year we published a detailed, clearly staged, self-funding prospectus for moving the trams to Stanmer park as a visitor attraction, laying some track within the yard we wish to use for a shed and museum and to eventually run the vehicles in the park as a tourist attraction. We raised a petition to support this, which currently has over 1,800 signatures. The society has constantly publicised the project in the press, as well as the radio. We have also appeared on the BBC, both last year and more recently in June this year and this has generated enormous interest in the project. We had a meeting last November with the council and more recently attempted to make a formal offer for the project by re-sending the prospectus in April this year to Bella Sankey and Jess Gibbons of the Brighton and Hove council. We had been asked to create a business plan from the November meeting and which is now close to completion. The whole farm area was suddenly put on the market in June and we have expressed an interest in the small area that we require for a tram shed to display and store the trams and to also create a small museum/shop. There is plenty of room for other projects or units in that area and we would be adding value to a long-neglected area within the farm. This closed in 2005 with its buildings being left to the elements to deteriorate. They will all get to a point of being uneconomical to repair. We believe that by being the first to take over two of the buildings, which we will pay for, we will give the council a much better chance to find other users for the remaining buildings. The public backing that we are getting for the trams to go to the park is considerable, thus the trams will increase visitor numbers to the park and will add to the ability for profitable businesses to be established. We want to use and modify a post war, open sided cow shed as our main depot, whilst next to it is a smaller extension of the same age, which would be a shop and museum.
Supporting Information
Registered charity no 1157813.
The society has accounts, a constitution, records of its meetings, with a proven record of planning, specialist sourcing and financial competence.
53 was the last open top tram built for a standard system in this country, whilst tram 1 is an even rarer survivor, a works car from 1912.
The nearest operating heritage tramways are in Devon and Derbyshire, with Heaton Park in Manchester and Seaton in Devon being successful examples of ths type of heritage tramway.
The project is self- funding.
The trams are electric, so zero pollution.
We have a lot of documents and historical articles from the Brighton tramways to display, including a 1/12th running scale Brighton tram model, with working lights and 40 feet of track.
The trams will add to Stanmer park, they will not detract from it. Residents were contacted, there were no complaints and the Stanmer society endorse the idea. This a chance to put Brighton back on the tourist map.
The trams can be a basis for revenue earning activity in the park.
An on-line petition with 1,800-signatures has proved the project is popular with the public.
The society has a facebook page with followers around the world and is currently revamping its website.
2. Wellington House Day Centre
Supported by:
Lou Vaughan (lead spokesperson)
Tracey Hammond
Sue Holder
Teresa Ralph
Cathy Cooper
Summary of Deputation:
Wellington House (Welly) is a Day Centre for adults with special needs that is utilised by 21 vulnerable adults. On February 26th 2026, the Council voted to close this Day Centre in order to make a saving of £400,000. We oppose this closure primarily because we do not agree that the service provided there can be replicated in the private sector. We have voiced our concerns on this aspect previously.
Today we would like to draw your attention to the figures and to show you how closing Welly will not save the projected £400,000, and instead will ultimately result in higher cost to the Council, thus eliminating any potential savings. We would like to point out that there have been multiple different costs quoted throughout the consultation period- the Consultation documents state that it costs £220 per person, per day. Kim Foster states £244 per person per day, and social workers are quoting differently again based on individuals, so what is the actual daily cost? We estimate that it is around £200, based on the information we have been given from the Council, however this data is high level and doesn’t take into consideration cost of individual needs.
Our calculations of potential savings are different to those of the Council. Based on the figures in the Consultation document from 24th February, we estimate a total saving of £277,134. This includes eight people quoted as having “complex needs”, and 13 as “moderate needs”. The Consultation document also contradicts itself, as on page 4 it refers to “half the attendees have complex needs”, but on page 5 refers to 8 people as having complex needs. This would make the saving less at £204,306.
Staff numbers are 12fte with one agency staff member, not the 21 quoted by the Council, therefore contributing to less than £803,000.
We have previously reported our concerns regarding family breakdown without the respite of Day Care. We have calculated, based on a national average, that one week in a residential respite would cost £1500, exceeding the weekly cost of a maximum £1100 for five days at Welly. Additionally, a permanent residential placement costs £130,000 per year, based on a national average. If just two of the 21 people needed this, it would eliminate any potential savings the Council hoped to make.
In 2018, ITV News discovered that the number of day centres for adults with special needs has decreased by 41% since 2010, yet the number of people who could benefit from such places is ever increasing. In 2012, the learning disability charity Mencap found that since 2009, one in three Councils had closed day services, and that one in four learning disabled people spend less than one hour outside their home every day.
Andy Burnham has spoken of an urgent need to fix social care, with a report expected from Louise Casey later this year about the care and support for disabled people.
We believe that complete closure is not necessary to save money. We feel that if Welly has the right management, recruitment of service users and attendance can be increased. Families of younger adults with special needs have already expressed an interest in Welly, but have been actively discouraged from applying there due to the potential closure.
There are other options including reducing the days Welly is open, or promoting evening use for social clubs and groups that would save money, and indeed make money! There will always be a demand for this type of service, and so by keeping Welly open, expanded, and promoted, the Council would stand to make more money than they hope to save.
Supporting Information
The following numbers are taken from the engagement document.
Wellington House has 21 people attending.
Of these 8 are complex needs while the rest,13, have moderate needs
Attending 5 days a week. 5 people with complex needs. 3 with moderate needs. Others attend 3 days or less. Following calculations use 3 days for part timers.
Running cost of service is £803,050
Daily costs for day care at third party placement are £60 daily for low needs, up to £199 for complex needs, No cost for moderate needs are given and £80 per day has been assumed.
Wellington house is open 51 weeks a year.
Total number of days attended weekly is:
Complex needs full time 5 x 5 = 25
complex part-time 3 x 3 = 9
moderate need full time 3 x 5 =15
moderate needs part time 10 x 3 = 30
total days weekly 79, 34 complex need and 45 moderate needs
total days annually 79 x 51 = 4,029
So the average cost per day at Wellington is, £803,050 divided by 4,029, £199.38.
Alternative placements.
The cost given in the engagement document is £60 for low need and up to £199 for complex needs. No cost has been given for moderate need so £80 is assumed.
Moderate need cost 45 days per week x 51 weeks, at £80 = £183,600
Complex needs cost 34 days per week x 51 weeks, at £199 = £345,066
total = £528,666
The saving is therefore £803,050 - £528,666 = £274,384
Although assumptions have been made in these calculations we believe it shows how fragile the proposed saving of £400,000 is.
Assumptions have also been made about the level of care needed in the engagement document. At the time these savings were proposed none of the people attending Wellington had had a review for several years. It will now be necessary for the alternative providers to become familiar with the individuals involved, and decide a care plan and cost it. Given that the the people with complex needs who attend Wellington were recognised as being the hardest to place elsewhere at the last round of day centre closures, it will not be a surprise if alternative placements cost more than is claimed in the engagement document.
The above calculations estimate a daily cost £200 at Wellington. We have seen daily costs in documents from the council ranging from £220 to £240 and no attempt has been made to assign costs according to level of need. We don't know why this is as one would expect cost to relate directly to care needed; most of the cost being staff.