TOURISM, EQUALITIES, CULTURE & COMMUNITIES COMMITTEE 14 January 2021

Agenda Item 61(c) Brighton & Hove City Council

DEPUTATIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

A period of not more than fifteen minutes shall be allowed at each ordinary meeting of the Council for the hearing of deputations from members of the public.  Each deputation may be heard for a maximum of five minutes.

Deputations received:                                                        

(i) Deputation: Beach Chalets

Good afternoon councillors

My deputation is primarily on behalf of the group of my fellow tenants adversely affected by the changes introduced by the Conservative Cabinet Member Cllr David Smith in 2011. All lifetime tenancies were continued, as they should be today, all new tenancies became 5 year  non-renewable, non-extendable licences.

However, those of us already on the waiting list for a number of years had applied under the lifetime scheme but had the goalposts changed midway through our very long waiting time.

I applied in 2001, and waited 14 years, some fellow tenants waited 19 or 20 years, often losing their place when waiting lists became electronic. Research indicates many anomalies with lists being arbitrarily closed, affecting the fairness and priority.

We propose the following in the spirit of fairness, justice and equality.

All tenants who applied before 2011 are offered a tenancy matching the length of time they spent on the waiting list and/or  the ability  to renew their licence for a further 5 year term if preferred in line with other tenancies etc..

All tenants are contacted annually to check they are fulfilling the conditions of their licence regarding maintenance and repairs, to record how regularly they use their chalet, whether they still require. All chalets could be inspected annually.

All tenants should be offered a 6-week extension to licences to compensate for the lockdown.

All Madeira Drive tenants must be allowed to access their chalets by vehicles at all times, reflecting age, infirmity, disabilities, the need to transport equipment regardless of current policies.

All tenants should be communicated with regularly. No information was given regarding the deputation from Rottingdean Parish council to TECC in Jan 2020 and which kickstarted this current review. 

The tenants consultation in Sept 2020 was flawed as the questions assumed lifetime tenancies were already abandoned.

I ask you to consider these proposals and look forward to presenting them at committee.

Supported by

Brian Snow,

Stephen Trilvas,

Jamie Whittington,

Tim Ebbs,

Rebecca Partridge

Suzanne Winder

Roy Pennington

Audrey Cresswell

Chris OBrien,

Fraser Morrison 

Karen Monti,