Minutes of London Road LAT 12th March 2019

Minutes of London Road LAT 12th March 2019

  1. Welcome, apologies and introductions

Apologies: Cllr Pete West, Sandy Crowhurst, Andy Keeffe, Lucy Dunleavy, Carol Whitney (St Peters Medical Centre) , Insp. Dan Hiles

Present: (to be added)

  1. Minutes of last meeting – scheduled date of next meeting 9th April 2019

The minutes of the last meeting are up on the website- Accepted.

Date of next meeting was agreed 9th April.

  1. Upkeep of properties New England quarter – i.e. near Sainsburys

Judy resident of Providence Place passed on the following:

” Does anyone in your monthly meets know who manages the New England Quarter up by Sainsbury’s? Or has anyone tried to contact them about the state of the rendering and woodwork?

As you know I go to Sainsbury’s every week and am appalled at the sad looking new buildings whose wooden balconies and rendering have not been maintained to look new. I understand the rendering is low or needs no maintenance type and that it’s meant to mellow with time. Do you think that could be mentioned? “

Is this something that can be raised?

[PW] asked for details of the buildings near the station that are not up to standard – and some photos are attached.  Does anyone know who is responsible for their upkeep?

Discussion took place as follows:

  • The managing agent that is responsible for the upkeep of the buildings and who you need to contact.
  • The best place to start is to ask residents who live in the buildings who their managing agent is.
  • There should be a plaque on the building that should identify that runs the building.
  • A lot of the buildings were designed to have a green wall, but sadly has not worked, or even designed to be covered up.
  • The render is through/white render, i.e. the whole render is coloured, not just on the surface.
  • There have always been concerns on the materials used on this development. The material for this building was poorly selected, and the green mould that has appeared is common for this type of wood.

The buildings near Sainsbury’s in question, shown below:

  1. Updates on various items:
    1. Bat and Ball alley- update from Simon Banister as follows, plus pictures:

Philip asked the question; does there need to be a payment made by the LAT, Simon’s reply is below:

“That is correct – the installation so far has been covered by the ward budget fund which Pete was able to contribute. As you will notice, only one gate has been put in place, and this is due to the ambiguous situation re the planned medical practice. As they intend to create a secure gated compound, there may be no purpose to installing a second gate (which we can’t fully afford in any event), and I am working with them on the potential for them to seek a highway extinguishment order and to incorporate the alleyway into their development footprint, which would mean that we would not need to provide a second gate, or maintain the PSPO (renewable every three years) and would not need to maintain an area of public highway which we were dedicated to excluding the public from.

For the optimum visual experience view this from the side – I’ve no idea how to rotate it by 90 degrees

If you are OK to hold on to the remaining £500 for a bit, if we are unable to reach a happy ending with the medical practice we may need a further intervention, and if not I expect that the police could be approached to OK the profiling of this sum to fit an alternative community safety outcome in the locality.”Action Point: Will need to check on this for the latest.

  1. Policing – report on status at the Level will be requested.
  • This goes alongside local concerns about stabbings, last year. The following is the reply from the Inspector Dan Hiles:

“Mr Wells, 

Thank you for your enquiry, I hope this finds you well.

The level is continuing to enjoy the reduction in drug related activity and in January there were zero reported crimes. I don’t yet have the February figures but I anticipate the same.

The reason for the van deployment was not in response to any call for a particular incident, it was just part of our normal deployment plan to spend more time in the Level than we used to, with the intention of preventing the situation we had last year from re-occurring to the degree that it did. There will have been staff around the area of the “Mobile Office”, not least to prevent any interference!

In the short/medium term you will see us in the “Mobile Office” more often than you have so please do pop over any say hello.

In the longer term planning we are looking at the CCTV infrastructure at The Level, particularly in light of all the planned development.


I hope this is helpful to you and although I can’t be there on the 12th … I’m sure I’ll see you another time.

Best regards,”

  • The police are putting in more effort on the Level, which is a positive. The polices presence is also being felt, as there is a backlash towards the amount of police, in the form of notices/stickers saying “no police at the Level” 
  1. Planning items

119-132 Brighton (former Co-op building)
They came and presented plans to the LAT. Following the presentation we were in agreement of it.

  • This is now going to the next planning meeting on 20th March, with “Minded to Grant”recommended to committee.

Longley estate

  • This is also going in on 20th March with “Minded to Grant” to the next stage. Philip has submitted a review of the overall comments of the opinion of the LAT.
  • A precedent is set by this development and the Vantage Point development will no doubt follow suit.
  • We are still not sure what has changed about the plans. There are hundreds of documents on the council website regarding this development, along with comments.
  • The Footprint of building has been pulled into from the boundaries.
  • They have not reduced the height.- Question whether they have possibly widened the building in another place.
  • In regard to “Public Realm” there is talk of getting ride of the iron steps on York Hill, and put some seating areas, etc. This is what they were aiming for when seen at consultation
  • There is a report of the money from (CIL), there are hundreds of pounds coming into traffic flow, environment, local school etc. The figure was in the area of £1/2 million. Sourced from the Community Infrastructure Levy.
  • There is a question of what has actually been changed.
  • The homes for long-term rent. There is a question on how affordable the rents will be- not social housing.
  • There 406 documents on the website, there will be a planning design statement on the website on one of the documents – but it takes a long time to sift through!
  • [After-meeting report: the application was agreed at the planning committee 6 votes to 2]

Vantage Point reply:

“Dear Philip,
I am writing to you with an update regarding the plans for Vantage Point, New England Street, Brighton.

Following on from our meetings and the public exhibition in September 2018, as well as a number of design reviews, the team has undertaken an extensive and thorough review of the plans, and subsequently amended the proposals for the site.

The plans will shortly be submitted to Brighton & Hove City Council, however, in advance of this, the team is keen to meet with the London Road Area LAT to provide you with a briefing on the amendments and receive any further feedback you may have.

Please could you advise as to your availability on 21st February for such a meeting?”

  • Philip did reply back to Vantage Point to invite them to this meeting, but no reply. It is now going to application stage, taking their cue from the Longley development. We will wait and see if there is any more information on this development.
  1. Viaduct Road … is still looking improved
  • It is looking better. It has been slowing vehicles down and is cleaner. Success!
  1. Upcoming local elections (if anything)

Nothing to report

  1. Zone J parking
  • This has been a cause for concern for residents living at the southern end of the zone and if they want to go out of an evening will they be able to park when they get back, this has become questionable now, as the zone has been extended.
  • This is partly due to the area being so large; and the other side of the railway has more space.
  • Zone J is compensating for the other side of the railway, and has more amenities in this zone than in other zones.
  • People are internally commuting from other zones because of the amenities that are around Zone J.
  • The petition that the LAT organised has been put forward, and it was reported back to us that Cllr Mitchell had promised that there was going to be a section in a forthcoming report on this.There was something at the last Sustainability and Environment committee meeting, but it had only copied what we said about the concern.
  • Action Point: This needs following up.
  • Below is the reply from Charles Field that was put forward by Rachel Chasseaud:

“Hi Rachel,

There is currently a priority parking scheme timetable, which runs up until 2020/21 and this was agreed at the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee in October 2017. This covers areas which have previously petitioned or shown strong support to the council for a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) up to late 2017.

An update report will be presented to the ETS Committee later this year on the parking scheme timetable. This will include all the more recent petitions and deputations and a review of Area J is being considered for inclusion within the timetable within this report alongside requests from other areas.

Regards,

Charles.”

  • This is not a very strong commitment, considering that Gill Michael said a review would be included with the report.
  • Action Point: This needs to be followed up with Pete West and chase it.

7.Lift in New England Quarter

  • Below is the reply from Simon Banister on the lift in the New England Quarter:

“Hi Philip

Info re the lift for the next meeting…

Regarding the NEQ lift the main reason for intermittent use it that it is powered by a sub-station associated to the adjacent later phase hotel and office development currently under construction on that southern part of the site.  Unfortunately the completion of development of that part of the site is delayed.  It was previously explained that the full permanent connection and power was to be by the end of last November though to date ongoing development continues.

There does remain the ongoing section 106 obligation which is with Hyde Vale as freehold owner and that obligation restricted occupation of the residential units until the Station Link which included the public square, steps and the lift was available for use.  The council did not formally enforce that part of the obligation, in the lift not being fully powered, as not to delay preventing occupation of the housing element under that earlier phase.

Once fully completed the maintenance of the link, lift and public square through Fenchurch Walk will remain with Hyde Vale as owner of that land.

”

There was discussion on this:

The council could be asked to enforce on this issue, as it was a condition for the development originally, and that the building was occupied at the time the conditions were agreed, so as it now not occupied, the building is now in breach of its conditions.

The lift and building was fully functioning; so there must be electric coming from somewhere.

The reason for intermittent use of the lift is because it is powered by sub station that is associated, with a later phase of the development, which is currently under construction. This has been over a year, with nothing. A reason for the delay could be that they may have moved the power supply. The council could still enforce it.

Action Point: Philip to send the email to Tony who will take it up with Cllr Dan Yates.

  1. Any other business
  • Lack of Bins
    Action Point: Philip to have another go at getting a reply and will investigate again.

Recycling collections- outside Duke of York’s.

  • The council collects the big industrial bins outside the Duke of York’s at 5am in the morning, which has been waking local residents.
  • The council, Duke of York’s / The Picture House have been emailed.
  • The Picture House investigated the matter, and found that it is illegal to do collections in residential areas at early hours of the morning.
  • As a result now the bins are now collected until around 8am, so an improvement and success!

Planning permission underneath Providence Lofts.

  • There has been an application by an orthodontic company, who want to take all the space underneath the existing apartments. To be continued for any updates.

Meeting closed at around 19:30 – minutes corrected and agreed 9th April