Should an addicts' centre be in town?

Traders and residents claim the Ship Street location will turn visitors away from Brighton, while workers from the charity Addaction say a central location is needed to reach as many people as possible. Today the Argus gives both sides their say.

NO - Frances Hix is a successful businesswoman, former Liberal Brighton councillor, and now spokeswoman for the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce. For 28 years she has run Intermarket, the advertising and public relations company from offices which will be next door to the proposed centre.

"Nobody can accuse me of being unsympathetic to people with drug and alcohol problems. I have never taken the view people who suffer from such problems, often for a short period in their lives, should be institutionalised. They need help, and Addaction has a proven record of helping such people. I admire the dedication of their staff and volunteers.

But this proposed centre is in totally the wrong place for Brighton. It is close to Middle Street Primary School, The Lanes and the seafront. For much of the year these parts of the town are packed with tourists and visitors . I know the 5,000 people the centre will cater for will not attend all at once and much of the work will be telephone counselling, but there will be visits from people on drugs and those who have had too much to drink. You can't cure these people overnight.

It is intended the centre will operate a needle exchange. I don't care what anyone says, there will be those who will get new new needles and find somewhere to inject themselves immediately. There is a dark alleyway to the side of the building which is a perfect place for a quick fix, especially as the centre will be open until 8pm once a week.

Shopkeepers in The Lanes already have their fair share of problems with people on drugs and with excess alcohol. They do not want more people with these problems hanging around The Lanes waiting for appointments or waiting for their friends who have appointments at the centre. They fear a loss of trade if this happens.

I am concerned at the extremely quiet way this matter has been dealt with by Brighton and Hove Council. They have done nothing wrong procedure wise, but the extent of this project has been deliberately kept quiet.

If I had not seen a notice on a lamppost saying the opening hours for the previously agreed project run by People and Churches Together for the same building were to be extended, then I would not have discovered how big the Addaction project was.

Permission was granted for a counselling centre run by PACT. They never moved in. Addaction probably could not believe their luck when they discovered this building already had planning permission for a similar project.

People and businesses had no objection to that project. We want to see the building at 15 Ship Street and fronting 13/14/15 Ship Street Gardens used.

But I am also concerned about parking. Where will the 16 full-time workers and 30, possibly more, volunteers park their cars? There is nowhere here.

There are other buildings in Brighton Addaction can move into. Ship Street is in the heart of Brighton's tourist area. The town centre tours go down Ship Street Gardens. Is it really in the interests of tourism to encourage hardened drug-users and alcoholics into this area?

This project is in direct contravention of the structure plan, which dedicates this area to tourism and leisure. If we are to be successful in our city status bid then we cannot have a drug and alcohol support centre close to our main tourist area. The council cannot allow this centre at this proposed site."

YES - Lise Colyer is the spokeswoman for Addaction. She is among a number of dedicated staff who run the charity which was founded in 1967 by a group of drug-users' parents.

Today the London-based organisation has 150 staff and many volunteers based at 36 projects throughout the country, including one in Trinity Street, Hastings.

"The people of Brighton will benefit from having a support centre in the middle of town. We aim to work with and help all communities. We need a central place as many of our clients do not have cars and need access to public transport. Bringing facilities under one roof will enable us to give a better service to the people who benefit from our service, and the community will eventually benefit.

There are similar projects close to our proposed site in Ship Street and Ship Street Gardens, and one has been operating from nearby West Street without any problems for a number of years.

The Ship Street building already has planning permission for a counselling project. We want to have extra opening times so we can help more people. This Brighton and Hove Non-Medical Drug and Alcohol Service will be managed and run by two highly esteemed specialist charities, Addaction and Community Alcohol Team Projects.

Both organisations have successful track records in delivering well-managed projects in town centre locations. Our service will deliver a wide range of services for the people of Brighton and Hove. The service will include advice and information, counselling and education and training.

Access to a web page giving detailed advice and information for people about drug and alcohol abuse will be available throughout the year.

T

he service will replace a number of existing services, already working with no problems in nearby central Brighton streets, including West Street, Cranbourne Street and Duke Street.

The site in Ship Street will provide a regional management base for Addaction, plus administrative facilities for staff working on the new service. One-to-one and group counselling will take place, plus a range of training and education programmes.

We will be working with 5,000 people in any one year. We do not expect all of these people to attend Ship Street. No medical work will take place on the premises, and no drugs will be kept on the premises.

People entering will enter through the doors on Ship Street with the exception of some disabled clients who will be able to use the proposed disabled entrance in Ship Street Gardens.

There is a significant drugs and alcohol problem in Brighton. A number of drug agencies exist, but services are quite fragmented.

Our new centre will enable us to link up with groups to provide a response to drug users' needs. We will be working with local churches, sports clubs. schools and colleges and businesses to tackle the needs."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.