A chemist could close if plans to demolish a building and replace it with three flats and a new shop are approved next week.
Councillors are due to decide whether to grant planning permission for the scheme in West Street, Rottingdean, between Tesco and the dentist and opposite the public car park.
The building’s owner, Wetton Cleaning Services Retirement Benefit Scheme, submitted plans to Brighton and Hove City Council to replace the the pharmacy at 2-4 West Street.
The company said in a “planning statement” that the pharmacy would be able to operate from the new shop if it so wished.
But some villagers fear the loss of the chemist shop – even temporarily – and cited it as a reason for refusing the planning application.
Given the number of objections, the proposal is due to be decided by the council’s Planning Committee at a meeting next week.
Rottingdean Parish Council raised concerns about the flint finish which is similar to the neighbouring Tesco but, the parish council said, out of keeping with the rest of West Street.
The parish council also raised concerns about the lack of parking for future residents.
It said: “While it is understood that the property is close to public transport, it is unrealistic to permit this number of dwellings without any parking.
“Rottingdean village has a severe shortage of unrestricted on-street parking in the village centre and there is none within the vicinity of the property.”
Fourteen objections have been sent to the council – including one from an anonymous medical practice – while one letter has been sent in support.
The medical practice said: “All our patients/customers are very angry and distressed about this plan to demolish Rottingdean Pharmacy, particularly the elderly ones.
“A lot of elderly patients are already struggling to come and pick up their prescriptions from the pharmacy because of ill health and age and they are used to this pharmacy and find it accessible as they have lived here all their lives.”
Some objectors fear for the future of the neighbouring dentist’s surgery and others are concerned about access to nearby Golden Square.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s heritage department said that the existing building, which is less than 60 years old, was “of no historic or architectural significance”.
Rottingdean Heritage backed the application and said that the existing building was “unattractive”.
It said: “The proposed use of flint cobbles and brick quoins is welcome as this will mirror the elevations of the adjacent Tesco store, the flint wall and wash house in Golden Square and a number of buildings in the High Street.
“This will result in a better entrance to the conservation area. Rottingdean Heritage regrets the loss of the chemist.”
But even if the plans were refused, the chemist could still be replaced by a different type of shop, the group added.
The planning statement was drafted by Lewes and Co Planning on behalf of the Wetton pension scheme.
It said: “There is clearly an absence of any architectural or historic merit associated with the existing building and the set-back footprint allows for parked cars to dominate the appearance of this part of the street scene.
“The proposed demolition of the property would result in the removal of the identified ‘negative feature’ and provide an opportunity to reinstate the historical building line and street pattern.”
The Planning Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 2pm next Wednesday (10 January). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
LloydsPharmacy one word (pharmacy joke) has its online offering, which can handle 95% of its workload out of this particular building with absolutely minimum fuss. As someone who developed Titan back when InvaTech first started creating the software, I can say confidently that these fears are unfounded and the villagers of Rottingdean just need assurances. And ultimately, I have been published professionally about how the traditional paradigm of pharmacy needs modernisation.
Even if Lloyds don’t do that, they can easily offset this by moving some prescriptions to their neighbours temporarily or working with the surgeries to batch prescribe and dispense quantities that cover the closed period. They could even use a “mobile pharmacy” as was done by Asda Pharmacy during its renovation several years ago.
Ultimately, it is an easy thing to manage.
I can’t see how a commercial decision whether to run a pharmacy, or not, from this location, affects a planning issue? The owners can lease the shop to whatever type of commercial business it wants to.
Considering the fact you have not clearly done your research Benjamin this pharmacy is no longer a part of Lloyd’s pharmacy who now cease to exist on the high street so you comment and lack of research shows just how professional you actually are if you can’t even be bothered to do basic research. This will affect the community negatively especially the elderly that cannot use online functions or even get themselves to a another pharmacy let alone up to there surgery so please research first before you try to give any comment or help to people using the wrong information completely.
Apparently not! Being professional means one isn’t immune to mistakes, but rather can admit when one has been made.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t change the argument much at all since independents also have access to the same centralisation services through a third party. Furthermore, I went and delved into their dispensing data on the NHSBSA. With an average of only 2,600 items a month, their impact is limited, even with a slightly higher than average items per head at 1.8. My other arguments remain completely untouched.
Again, I’d reinforce that fears are still unfounded, and it is still ultimately an easy thing to manage.
Benjamin is a nerdy clot using language he doesnt understand but is keen to claim he has published. Simple question-how to get to neighbouring chemists ? Increase car use rather than people taking a walk to their local chemist? More online thus helping to kill off local communities.
Also please why is the parish council not agreeing with Rottingdean Heritage?
He does not seem to understand this is not Lloyd’s pharmacy this is an independent pharmacy they do not have online capacity to offload 95% of there workload in fact 100% of there work load is done on site it would not be viable if the pharmacy was closed for a time or tried to be done in a mobile unit ( where does Benjamin plan to put this mobile unit this is not a huge Asda carpark) The staff in this pharmacy work so hard to try and keep up with many obstacles in there way. The new shop would not be in any way big enough to be viable to work in as the current one is already too small please remember the pharmacy uses the whole building and Cannot be crammed into a small downstairs space with no space to work. This being approved will close this local pharmacy indefinitely and there are a lot of people that use this pharmacy as a lifeline
Firstly, since you’ve said it several times, it’s kindly “their” not “there”.
At 2,600 items a month, they don’t need more than a single person working there. Not to discredit the work they are doing mind, but to put it into context, they are a micro pharmacy, and that’s barely viable as a business. Just looking at the latest months’ data on NHSBSA, they are doing just shy of 9 prescriptions a day. I admit, there is a lag time in the data, so this might have changed, especially with such new premises, but even LP was pulling similar numbers, so I wouldn’t be expecting that to explode. Brand loyalty in pharmacy isn’t a thing.
95% refers to the kinds of medications that can go through centralisation, as the machines aren’t too kind to glass bottles (they tend to get catapulted). Independents also have access to the hub and spoke services, should they choose to – again, and it doesn’t have to be through the big three so capacity isn’t an issue. But, like I said, with such low numbers, I wouldn’t personally be thinking about offloading my workload.
A mobile unit is a C1 converted vehicle, much like a burger van or similar, for reference. Can be parked anywhere you’d be able to park normally for the most part. Front-of-chemist sales account for less than 5% is an important note to make, so there’s very little that needs to be held. I’ve worked in spaces about that size before, so I don’t think it’s unfeasible, if not uncomfortable, two vans would be happy days.
Allow me to kindly reframe the question using some more nerdy clot language, whatever that means! Why necessitate the existence of a physical pharmacy when confronted with a logistical dilemma rather than a clinical exigency? It seems you unintentionally champion the cause of decentralised services.
Dispensaries, in particular, need not be constrained by locality. The latent potential of pharmacists and technicians within the realm of pharmacy remains inadequately tapped. Over-the-counter sales typically constitute a minute fraction of overall business revenue and, by extension, bear inconsequential weight. Although there may be a perceptible shift with the standardisation of pharmacists as independent prescribers, the contention persists that prioritising home visitation and telephonic services supersedes the significance of a tangible brick-and-mortar establishment, with dispensaries remaining largely unaffected.
In essence, the prevailing paradigm of pharmacy appears antiquated and warrants a comprehensive reevaluation.
You do talk a lot of nonsense.
Fortunately, the industry generally disagrees with you, Steve. New PGDs for Community Pharmacy coming very soon.
It changes nothing. You do talk a lot of nonsense.
Denial is not even remotely a good retort. But thanks for your input Steve.
Needs an updated picture as no longer LloydsPharmacy, it’s been ‘independent’ as Rottingdean Pharmacy since Summer 2023.
I am really worried about the loss of a chemist in the village. The nearest one is in Saltdean which is too far to walk for many folk
There are regular buses to and from Saltdean.
Pensioners can use their concessionary fares passes.
Pharmacies also have delivery services.
News to Benjamin and Chris C! Pharmacies don’t just spew out prescriptions, but also provide other services and professional advice from a pharmacist. As fior the utterly disingenuous and disgusting remarks of the obviously still healthy Benjamin and Chris C, maybe one day they will become elderly and infirm and might need the services of a very local pharmacy.
You are correct. They do offer advice, and a limited number of services, such as NMS, SC, and Vaccinations, and hopefully soon MAS once we have more IPPs coming through. I used to manage them, so I can be very specific about what a pharmacy can do. In relation to this specific pharmacy, their published data on the NHSBSA shows they do almost none of these.
Pharmacies are very underutilised for services in both the number of commissioned services by what was the CCG now ICB and I’d like to see a much greater focus on pharmaceutical service compared to dispensing, a sentiment that is also reflected in the Five Year Forward View.
However, the argument still remains that none of these services need to be run out of a brick and mortar building and can be delivered at a much better value decentralised.
And unfortunately, an ad hominem, despite also being fallacious, is irrelevant here – I’m of the generation that is seeing the increasing trend,according the ONS, that access pharmacy digitally. Combined with my own professional background, your personal attack on me makes no sense.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a disingenuous opinion, but one that is formed from over a decade of experience in the industry. Whilst I understand the current need for a B&M building, Hub and Spoke is much more cost effective. Modern pharmacy is not a clinical challenge. It is a logistical one.
Happy to respectfully debate this further with you.