Councillors failed to reach agreement on how to help residents living in fear of violent drug addicts who have moved on to council estates.
Conservative, Green and Labour councillors put forward ideas at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting after the plight of Craven Vale residents hit the headlines after a public meeting.
But none of them won the backing of the meeting at Hove Town Hall last night (Thursday 20 October).
They were responding to people living on the Brighton estate who told police, council officials and councillors about a nightmare neighbour who had smashed windows and doors and intimidated neighbours.
The estate had up to seven other potential problem neighbours, an issue that Labour councillor Nancy Platts, who represents East Brighton ward, raised in March when she asked why the council was housing drug dealers on its estates.
At a meeting of the full council last night (Thursday 20 October), Conservative councillor Anne Meadows called for a report to the council’s Housing Committee about how to tackle drug-dealing and cuckooing – where dealers take over a vulnerable person’s home.
She also called for a review of housing allocations and better co-operation with Sussex Police after concerns about security camera footage not being shared.
Councillor Meadows said: “The council is not listening to its residents. Tenants have been complaining for some time now about inappropriate allocations to properties in their areas.
“People are coming through the homeless route without any support for their addictions. Many of the homeless are not ‘tenancy ready’.”
Labour councillor Gill Williams, who represents East Brighton ward, was at the Craven Vale meeting and heard the harrowing stories directly from residents.
She wanted councillors to review the council’s relationship with the police and said: “This community, I am close to. And Councillor Platts and myself have worked very hard with them during the crisis and traumas they are suffering.
“I do not want this community’s suffering dismissed for political gain in any way. There are no self-congratulatory statements that are adequate and appropriate in this situation.”
Green councillor Siriol Hugh-Jones, co-chair of the council’s Housing Committee, said that the council’s housing policy had been in place for many years and was due for review next year.
An anti-social behaviour review was also due to go before the Housing Committee in January, she said.
On former homeless people moving on to estates, she said: “This council is committed to ensuring people receive support, including when they move to independent accommodation.
“It’s not just about housing the homeless. Neither is it the case that homeless people always need that support and are not ready to move on straight away.”
She said that security camera footage was always made available to the police if the council received a formal request from a senior officer.
The next meetings of the council’s Housing Committee are scheduled to take place on Wednesday 16 November and Wednesday 18 January.
In my area of HOVE i often see DRUG addicts hanging around street corners waiting for drugs. Drug dealing and taking is openly done. Put plain cloths police on the street dealers could easily be caught.