Agenda item

To receive a briefing paper from the Director of Care Services and Commissioning and the Director of Public Health on the temporary relocation of the Wet Day Centre (Anchor Centre).

The Director of Care Services and Commissioning and the Director of Public Health submitted a briefing paper on the temporary relocation of the Wet Day Centre (Anchor Centre).

Councillor Kitterick attended the meeting for this item as a Castle Ward Member.

Julie O’Boyle, Consultant in Public Health and Kate Galoppi, Head of Commissioning Adult Social Care, presented the report and stated:-

·         The need for the temporary re-location of the Anchor Centre had arisen due the poor state of repair of the current premises.  The contract for this specialist service was due to expire in June 2016.  The service provider had accepted the contract on the understanding that the Council would undertake the repairs to existing premises or provide alternative premises.

·         The cost of the repairs were too high and as the premises were now unsuitable, there was a need to temporarily re-locate the service to other premises.

·         The criteria for judging whether a premise was suitable for the service were contained in the report.  A number of properties had been considered but none were judged to be suitable on a number of health and safety and operational grounds.

In response to members’ questions, it was stated that:-

·         The average number of clients using the facility each day was 32, which varied between a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 43.

·         There had been a wide list of properties considered as a temporary location.

The Deputy City Mayor stated that there needed to be a sustainable way forward for both a temporary and permanent solution for this service as part of the Substance Misuse Service.  There was currently a 2^nd scoping exercise of properties underway and it would not be appropriate to list the buildings in the public domain until there was some certainty as to their suitability for the purposes needed.

Recent discussions had been held involving the City Mayor, Deputy City Mayor, Assistant City Mayor – Public Health, Ward Members and other interested parties to discuss options and it had been decided that the Anchor Centre would not be temporarily located to 96 New Walk.

Councillor Kitterick welcomed the decision not to use 96 New Walk and made the following observations:-

·         He recognised the value of having a wet centre to deal with the clients in a safe and controlled manner.

·         Street drinkers often exhibited the similar characteristics as social drinkers in wishing to meet friends and share a drink and they often preferred to do this in open spaces, which then led to issues with neighbouring properties and residents.

·         Any solution to provide a wet centre should avoid being situated near to green open spaces to avoid complaints or disturbances to neighbouring properties and residents etc.

·         He felt that most clients using the wet centre travelled into the City centre by public transport and it would be advisable to provide a facility that was in close proximity to both St Margaret’s and Charles Street Bus Stations.

·         An additional criterion of ‘Impact upon the local community’ should be added to the existing criteria as he felt that the protection of local residents should be of paramount importance, and any proposals should minimise the impact upon the surrounding community.

A representative of the local residents in New Walk stated that:-

·         There was an enormous depth and strength of feeling expressed on this issue by both residents and businesses on New Walk.

·         There were concerns of the impact that the Wet Centre facility could have upon the elderly, vulnerable and children’s nurseries in the surrounding area.

·         The Council have previously encouraged people to move to New Walk and residents don’t now wish to see street drinkers encouraged to visit the area.

·         Residents and businesses were asking for their welfare needs to be taken into account when the Council considered uses for its buildings in the area.

The Chair welcomed the decision not to locate the Anchor Centre in New Walk and asked that the health and wellbeing of residents be added to the scoping criteria for other buildings considered for the location of the Centre, and that a further report be submitted to the Commission.

The Deputy City Mayor commented that whilst the principle of adding health and wellbeing to the criteria, it was difficult to measure objectively as it was a more subjective judgement.  He recognised the importance of involving local ward members in consideration of possible premises, but this had to be balanced with the need to provide a service.

RESOLVED:-

1)         That health and wellbeing of residents be added to the scoping exercise for other buildings considered for the location of the Centre, and that a further report be submitted to the Commission on the scoping of other premises before any decision was made to relocate the Anchor Centre.

2)         That the Substance Misuse Re-Procurement be added to the Commission’s Work Programme.