‘Eastbourne has many big old houses which are ripe for exploitation’

I read with great interest your article, ‘First permitted rights application in Eastbourne upsets neighbours’ click here to read.

The Upperton conservation area is also threatened by a planning application (ref 210026) proposing a change of use for the Enys Road Surgery to a 19 bed HMO (maximum occupancy 33).

I live behind the proposed development.

However, this is not a nimbyish moan but a plea for Eastbourne to learn from the exploits of Peter Rachman in the 1950s who used loans from building societies to buy up the neglected but beautiful old houses of North Kensington and let them out to tenants who, having nowhere else to go, were forced into paying extortionate rents.

As Notting Hill became more run-down the new residents were blamed for the squalid conditions.

Eastbourne has many architecturally interesting big old houses which are ripe for such exploitation.

I have been told by a friend in Eastbourne, with personal experience of trying to find a home when unemployed, that rents for a single room with shared facilities charge £500 -£700 a month rent.

She thought this development would attract rents at the upper end of this scale, which is unlikely to be funded by the residents themselves.

I recognise that Eastbourne is desperate to find solutions to people needing a single rooms etc, especially if they are trying to find work, but the article in last week’s Herald, ‘Hub to bring jobs and new homes’ is surely a better approach?

The design and access statement in the planning application is full of sentimental rhetoric about ‘addressing the needs of our residents and surpassing them’ (point 2.13) although this is a planning application not a request for life skills and vocational funding.

There is an acknowledgement that the proposed plan recognises a need for financial literacy.

Rental includes utilities charges ‘but electricity and heating usage in each bedroom is metered so each resident pays for their personal use only (this helps residents to learn to control their personal budget) point 4.10. The school of hard knocks?

A much better example of skills development is the modest award made to the Band of Brothers’ allotment initiative in Upperton.

No-one in Eastbourne appears to be gaining any benefit from this proposed plan, not even estate agents as the sale of the surgery doesn’t seem to have been advertised locally.

Houses in Enys Road area have been converted into flats, turned into buildings offering services and employment.

Following the amalgamation of other GP practices locally can residents expect similar developments in other areas of Eastbourne?

This proposed development highlights the need for clear, well-thought out policies that meet the social and economic needs of all residents.

The two directors of Park Avenue Homes Ltd. do not live in Eastbourne but, according to Companies House in South Croydon (Company number 07805352). HMOs are being currently advertised on the internet as a very profitable way of maximising rental income for buy to let landlords..