Draft minutes of London Road Local Action Team Meeting 11/09/2018

London Road Local Action Team Meeting

11/09/2018

18:30-19:45pm

Legal and General- Longley Place development

(N.B. See also accompanying power point presentation)

Attending:

Organisation

Mike Gray

Resident

Sue Page

Resident

Alan Brigginshaw

Resident

Chris Sevinck

DRARA

Sylvia & Bob Chilton

Residents

Chris Tullett

St Bartholomew’s

Naomi O’Canna

Beatnik Breaks

Penny Morley

Resident

Ann Townsend

Resident

Bob Curtis

Natasha Innocent

Resident

Simon Bannister

BHCC

Sarah Booker-Lewis

Local reporter

Lucy Dunleavy

Resident

Hilary & Ken Forrester

Resident

Andy Roberts

Resident

Mike Hedgethorne

Resident

Tony Firmin

Resident

Maureen Winder

Level Communities Forum

Richard Howard

Level Communities Forum

Rowen Mitchell

equinox

Cllr Pete West

BHCC

Alan Buck

BHCC

Christina Bennett

Resident

Sandy Crowhurst

NLCA

Mike Powell

Legal and General

Stephen Murden

Legal and General

Jason Balls (EPC architects)

Chris Lam (EPC Architects)

Philip Wells

Resident (chair)

Corinne Lamb

Note-taker

There were late arrivals and more than 30 people present

1. Welcome and introduction

apologies – were not read out but were received from: Andy Winter (BHT), Katie Blood, UoSussex, Andy Keeffe (University of Brighton). There was a very quick round of introductions.

2. Minutes of last meetings were agreed as true records – date of next meeting October 9th 2018

3. Other updates

in view of the magnitude of the main item it was briefly stated that:

a. money (£500 )had been obtained for the Bat and Ball Alley gating

b. if there were no time to consider the City Plan that the Chair would make representations appropriate to the general concerns of the LAT as expressed on previous occasions. Closing date is Thursday 5pm email responses by tomorrow.

d. Vantage point proposal. Consultation on 20th September, held in Clarendon Building of Emmanuel church (formally CCK)

e. Consultation for the licensing policy

Closing date for this is the 9th October – with an extension of time. Invitation to look at this and respond.

f. Phone box on Clyde road does still not work.

Action: To chase up on via Caroline Lucas

4. Presentation from Legal and General on planning Presentation and Questions and Answers on the Longley Place development

The chair welcomed the 4 visitors and gave an opportunity for Mike Powell to say why previous invitations had been turned down. He explained that only now (i.e at this stage in the planning process) was a clear and definite plan available for public presentation.

Legal & General

  • They have held two public consultations.

  • They are long-term development investors, which means they are not selling apartments, these apartments are for local people.

  • They will not be using cheap materials into their buildings; it will be sustainable as local people matter.

  • They have seen that there is a real problem with rough sleeping and drug taking near the site. It is important to them to improve resident safety around the area and not just transfer the problem elsewhere, and work with the council to help reduce the problem.

  • There will be no extra management or agency fees; they will not be evicting tenants, as they, as responsible landlords, want to create a sense of community.

Their partnership with the council

  • Their relationship with the council is that they have been working with them for the last 18 months.

  • The council have a long-term commitment to refurbish and extend New England House, which is a centre for the creative and digital industries.

  • There are 100 businesses in New England House.

  • £4.9 million has been awarded to them from the government, but it’s not enough to deliver their targets and expansion and refurbish the building, to an extra 7000 square meters. This extra space would go on the side of New England House and likely to increase in height by an extra 2 storeys.

  • There is a land deal between Legal & General to 3000 meters of new floor space, which would figure in the government award.

EPR Architects

  • They were part of the design team for the new American Express building. They have been brought on board, to look into the master plan of the area and the site, by Legal & General.

  • The meeting was shown site photos of Longley and a power point presentation.

The Project vision

  • Council and L&G combine the use and benefits of the two existing buildings and future regeneration of the site.

  • Their brief was to deliver 200 accommodation units.

  • They had to provide 3,000 sq meters of flexible commercial space, and ultimately create a light, safe and residential community.

  • It’s a car free and sustainable development.

  • Photos were shown of the townscape.

  • There was a study in 2003/4 of where best to put tall buildings and the area around London looked best for it as it fits with the typography of Brighton.

  • They are trying to enhance the existing townscape and develop it and deliver a ‘Landmark building’. Meaning of Landmark is a way to recognise a building from a far. For example when you enter the city you will be able to see it.

Key opportunities, and constraints

  • Strengthen the east and west connections between the station, Greenway and down to London Road and make it safe, and more suitable for pedestrians.

Master plan was shown

  • Work with the existing context the other developments that are being proposed.

  • There is potential for connection with Greenway, the railway, New England Road and Elder Place.

  • There was an issue around traffic use of the road (e.g. to go north up London Road and then turn left to Hove)

  • It would improve connectivity, and create a pleasant public square.

  • The two developments (Longley Place and Vantage Point) share the same vision i.e.: to improve the frontages and to improve the public space in the area.

  • The plan shows a wider plan of the area, which the council asked for.

  • Public exhibition model was shown to the meeting

  • The Master plan shown was the aspirations if and when the two developments are complete.

  • The architects throughout the working sessions have liaised with design experts, when considering the height, layout, design aspirations etc.

  • The design experts advise they decreased the number of units to 222 and also reduced the height of some of the wings of the building

  • The plan received positive and negative comments from the public consultations that they have addressed and thus revised the design.

  • The idea comes from the local businesses in New England House and would benefit the businesses in New England House.

  • The layout and the plan in full is on the councils website on their planning development page: https://planningapps.brighton-hove.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PDJOE0DM0P900

  • 11 parking spaces, no parking for the residents and no residents permit available and is a closed and secure car park in the building.

  • There is a bike store, bin store, showers for the workers in the buildings.

  • There will be 2 entrances on New England and Elder place.

  • The traffic exiting Brighton will still have the same parking; there will be no space for the extra parking.

  • The pavement on Elder Place will be widened, to increase traffic calming around the area and an extra number of parking bays. This will add 9 extra cars on the road in the morning and 12 in the evening with a forecast of 1% increase of cars at peak times.

    • A car scheme with Enterprise has been looked into.

    • There will be 230 fixed parking bays for bikes and 30 for commuters inside the building. There was a question about providing simple bike maintenance facilities.

    • 11 car parking spaces, which will include electric cars.

  • They will narrow the roadway and make it a shared roadway at the back of the current New England House layout, make the street a nice place to be, and increase the footfall.

  • There will be a wider pavement at the front, which would make it safer for the road users.

  • There is a residential entrance on Elder Place.

  • The ground floor will be set back and open 24hours, it will be well lit but there will be security if needed, to deter rough sleepers from inappropriate use of the space .

    • They are confident of the challenge and are working with the council on this issue. They looked at the street lighting and other possibilities but it needs more thought

  • Once they have planning permission they will discuss the rent at the moment there will not be a cap on the rent in the commercial space for makers.

Apartments

  • The developers have not yet had the conversation with the education authority about how many local families from the local schools will be able to apply for apartments. (Alan Buck: “it is notoriously difficult to plan for school requirements”)

  • There is a standard formula for calculating the figure, and a pot of money, in the local authorities budget, which decides. No figure, was confirmed.

  • The room sizes in each flat will be 50 square meters; each apartment will be in line with the national planning standards or exceed them. All at the same size and standard and will be high quality.

  • They are all easily accessible flats and are of varying sizes

  • All apartments are long-term occupancy.

  • The existing tenants are the priority on allocating apartments.

  • The rent will be fixed and increasing, which goes with the increasing demand for houses in the city. The will rent them at the market level and will drop it if the rent is too high.

  • They are aware of the affordable housing process with the council, and the discount market rent is managed by Legal & General.

Mock-up photographic views: the meeting was shown a number of views from within the presentation which demonstrated the places at which the building was hidden, or scarcely visible. The only view available from the north end of London Road was the one taken from against Moe’s wall. The chair had previously asked for other views to be made available e.g. from the frontage of Alcampo, but it was not possible for the team to produce these.

Meetings views in conclusion

  • Provision of housing for local residents was much appreciated

  • The idea of regeneration of the area was seen as extremely valuable

  • A number present voiced concern over height and that everything could go higher and maybe the other floors.

  • The design team had encouraged the development to increase in height.

  • The development is surrounded by a conservation area

Closing Date for comments on the planning application is 20th th September 2018 and the reference on the LAT website.

No vote was taken concerning this planning application, the chair said he would write and attempt to summarise the various points that had been raised – in the time available. Individual attenders were invited to send in their own comments.

The meeting closed at around 19:55