Empty Bognor care home could house seasonal agricultural workers

An empty Bognor Regis care home shut down last year could be used to house seasonal agricultural workers.
Royal Bay Care HomeRoyal Bay Care Home
Royal Bay Care Home

The Royal Bay Residential Home in Aldwick Road was closed by regulators in March 2019 due to serious safeguarding concerns.

Pro-Force, a recruitment company specialising in providing workers to food, agricultural and horticultural businesses, has applied to Arun District Council for a temporary change of use for the building.
It is part of a larger group of companies which includes Cre8 Property and Evergreen Training.

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The property was bought by Cre8 with the intention of using it as a residential training centre run by Evergreen.

However due to the coronavirus pandemic it is no longer possible to run the apprenticeship programme and Evergreen has temporarily suspended operations.

Instead it is proposing to use Royal Bay to house 80 seasonal agricultural workers for a period of 12 months.

Pro-Force has continued to recruit workers but social distancing measures has reduced the capacity of its existing accommodation.

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Meanwhile the South Downs Holiday Village, in Bracklesham, is no longer available as it is has bene acquired by a housing developer.

The hot weather in April and May has brought forward peak cropping times, increasing demand for fruit and vegetable pickers.

Some of the workers living at the holiday village would relocate to Royal Bay, with any extra workers likely to come from Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

They would work at nearby businesses.

Due to difficulties finding alternative accommodation, 15 workers are already living on site, the applicant said.

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There would be a combination of single and double rooms, with larger rooms suitable for 3-4 people.

As a minimum each room would have a toilet and basin, with some having en-suite bathrooms.

Shared showers and self-catering kitchen facilities would be provided as well as social spaces when coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

A total of five staff would be needed to run the accommodation: a site manager, two welfare staff and two maintenance staff.

The majority of workers would travel to work by minibus.

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The applicant described how the accommodation would be managed to ensure neighbours are not impacted.

According to the application: “Not having dedicated accommodation will have the impact of increased pressure on existing housing, increased poverty and the resultant social issues and ultimately inability to meet the growers’ labour demands leaving crops in the ground.”

To comment on the application visit www.arun.gov.uk/weekly-lists using code BR/138/20/PL.

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