Drug Dealers Receiving Council Homes In Brighton & Hove

Drug dealers are being housed close to recovering addicts by Brighton and Hove City Council housing officials, according to the former Labour leader of the council Nancy Platts.

Councillor Platts, who represents East Brighton ward, told the council’s Housing Committee:

“We need a more joined-up approach to these problems.

“Residents believe the current situation is a ‘dereliction of duty’ by the council and the duty of care they owe to the residents who are not involved in drug dealing but are seriously impacted by it.

“The council’s goal of zero evictions appears to actively work against the interests of residents who are having their day-to-day lives destroyed by drug dealing.”

Her complaints were echoed by Conservative councillor Dawn Barnett, who represents Hangleton and Knoll ward. She said:

“We’re pandering to drug dealers.”

Councillor Platts submitted a three-page letter containing a seven-point action plan aimed at supporting residents who have been affected by the problem when the Housing Committee met on Wednesday (16 March).

She said that residents on the Craven Vale estate, in particular, had had their peace disrupted by the “scourge of drugs” in recent years, with drug-taking, dealing and cuckooing, where dealers take over vulnerable people’s homes.

Councillor Platts said:

“We have organised multi-agency meetings to try to get organisations to work with one another to understand the impact on residents and do something about the problem.

“After a slightly bumpy start, we succeeded in establishing a way of working where residents’ reporting delivered sufficient evidence that resulted in court action and evictions.

“To get this far required a lot of courage and I am proud of the residents for coming together to tackle this problem and for making statements to the police that could be used in court.

“I also made a statement to the police for use in court about the impact on residents.

“We were able to take this action because we built an environment of trust and support at those multi-agency meetings and believed it would return to residents the peaceful life they had previously enjoyed and that they are entitled to.”

But all that work had “unravelled” because of housing policy, Councillor Platts said, adding:

“Following the evictions of those involved in drug dealing, it was agreed that certain flats would be subject to ‘sensitive lets’ so as to give residents some respite.

“However, while this covered the specific flats from which people were previously evicted, we were told that it couldn’t cover the whole estate.

“As a result, in a matter of weeks, we have found ourselves back at square one. There are active dealers back on the estate, living in council properties.

“In addition, people with a history of dealing have been housed close to people who are recovering from drug abuse, undermining those individuals’ efforts and the officers supporting them.

“We need a more joined-up approach to these problems.

“Light bulbs have been broken so that the dealers can operate under cover of darkness. I asked for all of these to be repaired in January and for all lights to be proactively tested, as a matter of urgency, and gave the reasons why.

“Those repairs have still not been completed. Residents are at their wit’s end. Trust and confidence in the council and other agencies are being rapidly lost.

“Residents believe the current situation is a ‘dereliction of duty’ by the council and the duty of care they owe to the residents who are not involved in drug dealing but are seriously impacted by it.”

Councillor Platts shared some comments from anonymous residents. One person said:

“For a few months, we, on the Craven Vale Estate, felt what it was like to be in a safe environment – as is promised by the council to tenants.

“That time is now over, for we see the council has housed two people (in separate tenancies) who are immediately blatantly dealing.”

Another Craven Vale resident said:

“We will not cope as a neighbourhood if yet another dealer (or vulnerable individual who WILL be instantly cuckooed) is moved into this premises.

“We have seen how it takes years to resolve. We are now incredibly familiar with the pattern that follows.

“We see what is going on daily – a drug gang has stamped on this estate and is just waiting for a vulnerable tenant to move in – and then they swoop in.”

Councillor Barnett backed Councillor Platts and said that she “loses her rag” at dealing on the estates and near the schools in her ward, Hangleton and Knoll.

Councillor Barnett said:

“Dealers are being housed with a history of dealing. Why the heck are we giving them council properties?

“We’re not going to stop it all the time we’re pandering to drug dealers. They need to be stopped and evicted. That’s all there is to it.”

Green councillor David Gibson said that Councillor Platts had offered a sobering account and there were other areas experiencing similar problems across Brighton and Hove – and not just in council housing.

Councillor Gibson, who co-chairs the council’s Housing Committee, said that council chief executive Geoff Raw was organising a meeting to look at the problem and offered to involve Councillor Platts and Councillor Gill Williams, who speaks for Labour on housing.

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Councillor Platts asked councillors to support a “tough line” and seven action points.

1. Where there have been drugs problems on an estate, allow a period of time when residents can have a respite from this problem. Review council housing policy – both permanent and temporary – on sensitive lets and ensure that the problem is not resolved one day, only to be brought back the next.
2. While the original goal of zero evictions may have been arrived at with the best of intentions, it is now having the unintended consequence of preventing law-abiding residents from feeling safe in their own homes – and this needed to be reviewed.
3. Speed up progress towards a plan of action to stop drug-taking, cuckooing and drug dealing on council estates.
4. When residents or councillors ask for urgent action, such as lights to be repaired, to make life more difficult for dealers to operate, it needs to happen.
5. When residents are asked to report incidents, the council needs that process to be clear and reassurance given that the information will be treated seriously, logged and maintained, not for residents to be ticked off for reporting the wrong things to the wrong people or for sending too many emails.
6. The council needs to get better at understanding the impact and vulnerability of residents who are doing the right thing and it needs to improve its response.
7. It needs to get better at co-ordinating across directorates and within directorates as well as across other agencies. Residents should not be expected to have to negotiate a route through a maze of bureaucracy while losing weeks when people could be working together to solve the problem instead.

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Councillor Platts said that she was disappointed by the lack of a formal and detailed response to her letter after submitting it well before the meeting as a “plea of last resort”.

She added:

“I don’t know why we are housing these people. There is one in particular who has a history of drug dealing.

“I don’t understand why we’re putting them in a council property when we are desperate for people to be given housing – and these people should not be the first priority if they’re dealing drugs.

“It would be nice to have some kind of acknowledgement – and the people of Craven Vale are watching this – and no one from the administration has said anything.”

Councillor Gibson later responded on behalf of the Green administration.