Council and NHS bosses are believed to be preparing to drop the charity behind the mess up over housing former drug addicts and alcoholics in the Old Brewery in Portslade.
A senior council official, Rob Persey, told a public meeting in Portslade that a decision about the contracts – worth £10 million over five years – would be made one way or another by the end of this month.
Mr Persey, the executive director for health and adult social care at Brighton and Hove City Council, spoke out after questions were asked about the need for planning permission.
The contractor chosen by the council and NHS Sussex, the new integrated care board for the area, claimed that planning permission was not required.
But the council told the contractor, Saint John of God Hospitaller Services (SJOG), that planning permission was required for the proposed “change of use”.
The building is classed as “residential” but the contracts – for people with “high” and “medium” mental health support needs – require “elements of care” and this amounted to a proposed change of use.
Residents at two public meetings in Portslade seemed surprised that the NHS and council had awarded the supported housing contracts to SJOG even though it had no premises in Brighton and Hove.
SJOG hoped to use the Old Brewery, in High Street, in the Old Village, and advertised for a substance misuse co-ordinator and substance misuse workers to be based in Portslade.
The adverts appeared as the existing providers – BHT Sussex and Sanctuary housing association – started to lose staff who had been employed to support people under the current contracts.
Some former staff contacted Brighton and Hove News, unhappy about the prospect of transferring to SJOG or travelling to Portslade for work – or both
They cited the lack of facilities for vulnerable people who would, they said, continue to need a great deal of support.
One told Brighton and Hove News: “I went to have a look at where I would be expected to work. From the outside, the Old Brewery still looks like a building site. There’s nowhere for staff to park and it’s hard to reach by public transport from where I live.
“There’s not much in that part of Portslade – a couple of pubs and a shop – and that’s not great for the sort of people I care for.
“Most of them have abused drugs or alcohol or both. Many have significant behavioural problems. And we don’t cram them all in. At the Portslade site, it looks as though they will be ‘warehoused’.
“We have to liaise with our neighbours – and the police are called fairly regularly. I’m sorry to say that it goes with the territory when you’re caring for people with complex mental health needs.
“I didn’t feel as though I would be able to provide the quality of care that I would wish to provide – that my conscience dictates – in the new location in Portslade.”
The council, NHS bosses and SJOG have all tried to claim that people were making assumptions that their plan was to house former drug addicts and alcoholics in the Old Brewery.
But in fact it was made clear when the council’s Adult Social Care and Public Health Sub-Committee authorised the procurement process in June last year.
A report to the sub-committee said that the contract included “support for alcohol and drug issues” – as did the subsequent tender notices.
And the report to councillors said that one aim was to provide: “A higher level of support in high needs accommodation, with increased levels of overnight staffing to allow the placement of those with complex needs.”
SJOG, based in Darlington, Co Durham, was chosen despite having no premises in Brighton and Hove. And the charity was selected despite the council’s policies aimed at supporting “community wealth building” and “the circular economy”.
The two existing providers are both rooted in the community in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding Sussex area.
It was not clear whether the council planned to keep faith with Saint John of God which had initially been due to start the contract a month ago.
Despite being given a grace period, after the mess up at the brewery, it is now even further from being in a position to fulfil its obligations.
A special meeting of the council’s Adult Social Care and Public Health Sub-Committee has been called for Tuesday 8 November.
Councillors can expect to be given a formal update in public on how up to 60 vulnerable people are to be housed and given the care and support that they need.
Some have tried to claim that the outcry in Portslade was the result of prejudice. But people People in Portslade have shown that they will welcome people with these sorts of needs, notably at Emmaus and the YMCA premises.
But, as some residents said at the two public meetings, there was upfront, open and honest communication about those plans in advance and since. Decision-makers had not tried to “mug” the public and treat them as fools.
House them in Hove Town Hall. Plenty of space there with all the council employees shirking from home
So despite what Cllr Hugh-Jones says in her opinion piece, berating the residents and general virtue signaling this debacle failed because of lack if planning and NOT public outcry. Still typical Green councilor closing to ignore the truth?
Rob Persey and BHCC ASC continue to ignore Planning requirements, as well as failing to consult local residents and neighbours of all these questionable schemes from the outset. They have done it elsewhere in the past, got caught, yet continue to try and get away with it. They have learned nothing from the West Pier Project Regency Square debacle, the attempted Seafield Rd rort, Hereford Rd mess, the Smart Seaview Hostel racket.