Draft minutes of London Road LAT AGM 8th January 2019

1. Welcome, introductions, and apologies

Apologies: Peter and Judi – Providence Place Lofts

Present: Corinne Lamb, Annie McCabe (Roundhill Society), Lucy Dunleavy (Vice Chair), Elspeth Broady (LRSP, DRARA etc.) Lucy Walker (UOS), Mike Hedgethorne (treasurer), Tony Firmin, Penny Morley, Adrian (Stanley Road), Mark & Daphne, Toby Richardson (Architect), Carol (Oxford Street Practice), Simon Bannister, Richard Baraball, Tom, Nina (Oxford Street), Cllr Pete West. P. Wells (Chair) (10 present)

2. Minutes of November 2018 and December meeting notes and dates of next meeting

November Minutes were accepted arising – Do we yet know who is responsible for the non-working lift from Anne Street. Action Point – Simon B. to follow up

December informal meeting notes- Accepted

  • Simon Banister produced a set of notes on the Providence Place area and how to improve it, that residents were invited to put forward their suggestions to him. Simon will then look into it this year and the impact the council has had on the area and what still can be improved. It can be found on the LAT website.

Date of next meeting: 12th February 2019 Philip will not be present as he will be in Sri Lanka . Philip had asked Derek Wright previously but he has politely declined

Suggestions were as follows:

  • Rachel Chasseaud – the new head of City Clean
  • Cllr Claire Moonan – Council lead on homelessness
  • A representative of the council who is involved in Youth Projects.
  • There are local election in May so will not be able to get anyone from the council in April.

Action Point: Philip will invite them both if they are available to attend.

3. AGM – Reports and election of Officers – Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer. (All present incumbents are willing to be re-nominated)

Philip Wells -Chair

  • Re-elected
  • Chairs Report is on the LAT website
  • There has been process on several items this last year.
    • There has been progress on the bins along Viaduct Road; they have been put into place in June
    • The Fire station vehicle access, no entry signs have been put in place.
    • Graffiti policy-there has been a policy statement drafted and action taken by the council
    • Longley Estate proposal has gone to the council as a planning application.
    • The Co-op building development proposal has gone into the council as a planning application.

Lucy Dunleavy- Vice Chair

  • Re-elected

Treasurer- Mike Hedgethorne

  • Re-elected
  • Treasurer Report
    • £429.45 at the start of the year
    • The Police would put £500 towards the Oxford Court. This £500 is over which we still haven’t paid.
    • Our balance is £429.45
    • Proposal of a donation of £50 to the church for letting the LAT use the room for of charge- Agreed
    • Signatories will be updated with who is elected.
    • Action Point: Mike Hedgethorne to action the donation agreed by meeting

All Officers reports accepted and all Officers were re-elected into their positions.

4. Presentation regarding Oxford Street Medical Centre – Plan

Carol Witney from St Peter’s Medical Centre and Toby Richardson from Deacon and Richardson Architects came to present plans of the re development of Oxford Street Medical Centre.

[Both used power point presentations which are available on the LAT website practice strategy drawings-a drawings-b ]

Context

  • St Peter’s Medical Centre has been working with them since 2015
  • The Oxford Street centre’s lease expired in August 2018.
  • Both practises were not fit for purpose, as there is more work is coming out of hospitals and there are needs to develop the infrastructure to cover the increase demand on the services.
  • The area has a high level of deprivation in the area, as an inner city practice.
  • There is a 2-year plan in place for the practice; this involves the practice wanting to offer a wider range of service to meet the volume of people coming to the service. They also want to become a training practice, and be able to sustain primary care locally.
  • The two combined practices patient list is 15,500 to be fitted into the new site.

How

  • The practices were awarded funding in 2016 by Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF). The plan is supported by the CCG, and Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, (SPFT).
  • Their current Landlord Nigel Ford has purchased the car park behind the building. The terms have been agreed but not finalised.
  • Planning permission is to be completed by the end of the month.
  • The Pre Planning Permission is being put in; they have had the initial meeting with the council.

The Site

  • There are a lot of problems with the car park e.g. as reported to the LAT
  • There were 70 reported crimes in Oxford Court alone.
  • Key future strategy
  • The building is bigger than at present.
  • The total floor space in the new building is 1500 square meters of medical floor space and a pharmacy. This is to fit in the number of patients and a future expansion over the next two years whilst the building is being built.
  • The pharmacy will be on ground floor and will have a present of the high street.
    • There will be an extra 50% increase in footprint of the entire building.
    • The car park will be gated.
    • The boundary of the gate is still in negotiation, with the properties at the near of the building. Residents who need access to the gated part will have a gate key. There will also be an increase in CCTV and lighting.
    • There will be 36 car parking spaces in the car park, which is only for staff and SPFT, trust employees and there will be two disabled parking spaces for their patient use.
  • The building will be 4 stories in total.
  • The rooms will be used as consulting rooms and interview rooms for Skype calls etc.
  • There will be a group room at front of building on the ground floor for evening drop-ins and will have the presence on high street.
  • The construction of the building will be phased so the practice can keep running.
  • The current deadline of construction is March 2021. This is to fit with the ETTF deadline. It is a fast-track programme.
  • The build will be a modern flint building, as brick is long lasting and sustainable. Both are conditioned by planning permission.
  • There will be glazed windows in certain rooms to deal with privacy for patients and neighbours.
  • The opening hours will be from 8am-8pm, to be used as a Hub.
  • The patient and staff size at peak times are 150 people in the building. The extended hours service would spread this out.
  • There will be 13 Car park spaces only for the staff
  • Electric charging points for cars will be available and considered in the car park.
  • There is a Transport Plan along with a air quality assessment being prepared at time of the meeting.
    • There should not be a great deal of increase of cars as the public transport in the area is more than sufficient to cover the amount visitors
    • Cycle parking spaces needs more work it to and will be covered in the Transport Plan
  • The amount of visitors to the surgery will be the 15,500 patients plus a possible 50% increase in visitors. This is very hard to predict the increase of patients.

Questions from the floor: there followed a lively in-depth discussion (main points only are noted here)

  • Councillor Pete West: The general view on the new facility is a positive one with public. Due to the fact that there has been a lot of issues with the Bat and Ball alley way at the near of the practise.
  • The gate is very much welcomed if it can remove the anti social behaviour in the area.
  • Further questions and suggestions were raised:
    • Would it be possible to create a couple of disabled spaces in the car park for residents on a contracted basis? This plan will mean a loss of parking spaces for locals (residents and businesses). This is a disadvantage.
    • Had there been any consideration of having a living wall as to manage the amount of graffiti that is around the area and to combat where it could potentially happen on the new building?
      • The orientation of the wall needs to be correct for this to work and more work to be done on graffiti resilience.
  • The council have been given a gating order has been given- 3 year order, that needs to be reapplied for.
  • Simon Banister recommended a solution to the gate would be extend the gate and so would not be a issue for the community if there was just one gate on the main road and one at the other end so it would tackle the issue of bins and access. The only access would be to resident’s homes.
  • There needs to be more consultation with the public to do with the car park, and they would like help with this issue

Action Point: Simon Banister needs to talk to the landlord of the medical centre.

5. Any other business – none.

6. The meeting closed at about 20:10