Councillor Hugh-Jones is completely right when she says schemes such as that recently proposed for the Old Brewery in Portslade Old Village "need explaining in advance" ("We all need to be open to different voices" Argus, October 28).

The proposal to house 60 people with complex mental health needs in a mixture of one and two bedroom flats was first agreed by the council in August - but no one thought to inform the local councillors in Portslade until late September.

We were then told that the first residents/clients would be moving in within a week. This was clearly wrong in terms of there having been absolutely no consultation with either local residents or their councillors.

Cllr Hugh-Jones, who I have a great deal of respect for, then goes on to say that "assumptions were made about future residents' substance misuse" suggesting that this was incorrect and added to residents' concerns.

I'm afraid she's wrong on this. The report from the council dated the 8th August (which we didn't see until 22nd September) states that the Old Brewery will offer "a higher level of support in high needs accommodation with increased levels of overnight staffing to allow the placement of those with complex needs including dual diagnosis". In this context, dual diagnosis means people with both mental health and substance misuse problems.

This whole, sorry episode was a textbook example of how not to plan and commission new services when they are to be placed into the middle of an existing community. Portslade residents are neither bigoted or against improvements to services for those of us with complex mental health problems. They will not, however, be taken for granted or patronised by those in positions of influence and authority.

Cllr Peter Atkinson

Independent, North Portslade