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Multi-million-pound funding has been awarded to help build a “super surgery” which will serve tens of thousands of patients.
Cabinet members at Dartford council agreed to allocate £3.6 million towards the proposed Greenhithe Medical Centre at a meeting held last night (January 23).
Plans to convert a former car park in Steele Avenue, Greenhithe, into a medical centre were unanimously approved by councillors last May - three years after they were first proposed.
It will see the amalgamation of two general practices, Swanscombe and Bean Partnership and the Temple Hill Group, with patients from surgeries at Elmdene, Greenhithe and Ivy Bower using the new building.
Councillors said there was an overwhelming need for the facility due to rapid housing growth – including the 15,000 homes planned nearby at Ebbsfleet Garden City - and because the current doctors’ surgeries were not fit for purpose.
Across the three practices, there are only six clinical rooms as of October.
The new medical centre will increase capacity with 14 consulting and examination rooms, four treatment rooms and a minor surgery unit to support a wider range of medical services.
It will also be able to accommodate around 150,000 appointments a year with added spaces in the evenings and at weekends.
According to cabinet papers, the approval of planning permission “overcame a key obstacle to its delivery” however there is still a “complex arrangement” between the parties involved.
The report stated agreements still need to be secured between the lead organisation, Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB), NHS England, the two GP practices and construction firm Mayfair Group Investments before work can start.
In the hopes of these being completed, the ICB has asked Dartford council to contribute £3.6million in community infrastructure levy (CIL) funding to support the project.
CIL is a charge the local authority imposes on new developments to help build the infrastructure needed to support them such as schools, hospitals and sports facilities.
The amount of funding being asked for by the ICB is only 44% of the overall estimated cost of the medical surgery which is set to come in at £8.2million.
The bid was discussed on Thursday (January 23) by Dartford council cabinet members who agreed to contribute the one-off payment.
Speaking to KentOnline following the meeting, ward councillor for Greenhithe and Knockhall, David Mote said: “The council is in full support of this.
“We are completely behind it and are doing all we can do in our power to support it.
“We are very keen to see this project go ahead and want to get it built for the people of Greenhithe and Stone who have long deserved this.”
Residents, councillors and local health leaders have previously expressed their frustration at the hold-up as the stalled plans were seen as desperately needed in an area with pressure on GP services.
It was even feared tens of thousands of patients could be left without a doctors’ surgery altogether if the proposals were not approved.
It came after the three existing surgeries received notices of eviction, or were told their leases would be not renewed.
Elsewhere in the county, plans to build a state-of-the-art health hub in Sittingbourne town centre have been scrapped.
The Bell Road Medical Centre would have taken on 6,000 new patients but the NHS has said it will no longer support the scheme following a “further proposal” from the developers.
It is understood the updated plans included a reduction in space and a change to the layout.