Two Labour councillors have called for a pause before people with complex mental health needs are placed in the old brewery in Portslade.
Councillor Alan Robins and Councillor Les Hamilton are calling on Brighton and Hove City Council and NHS Sussex to listen to local concerns and answer residents’ questions.
It emerged in the past week that the council and NHS bosses planned to house 60 people, including recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, at the premises in the Old Village.
The brewery building, also known as Le Carbone, in High Street, has been the source of many complaints over the past few years even before the hostel proposal came to light.
Neighbours have raised numerous concerns, including about wood being burnt at the site, during building work after the council granted planning permission for the premises to be turned into high-end flats.
At the weekend, Independent councillor Peter Atkinson, who represents North Portslade, alerted neighbours to the plan in a post on Facebook.
Yesterday the two Labour councillors for South Portslade – which includes the old brewery – urged the council and NHS bosses to pause their plans to move people in.
Councillor Robins said that it was not a case of demonising anyone, as some had suggested when the news emerged.
And he said that the nearby Emmaus project was a good example of how to engage with neighbours when planning and running a scheme like this – before and after moving in.
But he and Councillor Hamilton were concerned that there had been no proper discussion about how the new scheme at the old brewery might affect the local community.
They also wanted to know how the needs of the residents – or clients – could properly be met at the Portslade site after professionals raised their own worries.
The site is due to be run, on a 10-year lease, by a national charity called Saint John of God (SJOG) Hospitaller Services.
The charity is taking over contracts currently held by BHT Sussex, formerly known as Brighton Housing Trust, and the housing association Sanctuary.
Councillor Robins, who sits on the council’s Health and Wellbeing Board, said that he was adamant that local residents should have an opportunity to comment on the proposals
He said: “It may be their fears are unfounded and the council and NHS commissioners can reassure residents.
“But we need to give local people a chance to know what the proposals are, meet the organisation who will be running things and explore any concerns they might have.
“We had very little warning around this. We were told just seven days before they were going to move the first clients in.”
The start date has since been put back to the beginning of November but the two councillors were worried that local residents had had no chance to look at any plans.
They said that residents should be given time to discuss matters with their local councillors, council officers or the NHS commissioning team.
The two councillors have also been contacted by staff from the existing services who were worried that clients would not cope in the proposed setting. Those staff were expected to move from the existing services to the new building.
There was a suggestion that the move should take place without local residents being told anything – something that Councillor Robins said was ludicrous and would undermine the council’s pledge to be open and transparent.
Among those understood to have concerns about the latest move are those who paid for upmarket houses as part of the makeover of the old brewery. They are believed to be exploring their legal options.
