Plans to replace Essex GP surgery with 38 homes approved
It comes as Felsted is set to get a new doctor's surgery
Last updated 5th Sep 2022
Plans to replace an Essex village’s GP surgery “in danger of closing” along with 38 new homes have been passed.
The development between Felsted and Flitch Green has been widely welcomed, particularly given the pressures on the existing health pressures that exist in nearby Dunmow.
West Essex CCG has said that it “helps the support the wider strategic intention to provide further general practice capacity for residents of Great Dunmow” as well as securing GP provision in Felsted.
Felsted surgery, an extension of John Tasker House in Dunmow, was no longer fit for purpose and was in danger of closing, a Uttlesford planning committee heard on August 31.
Delivery of Felsted’s new doctors’ surgery – to consist of six clinical rooms, a dispensary, and a kitchen and staff room – is to be constructed by developer Mulberry Homes and then to be transferred to the Felsted Community Trust which will lease it back to the NHS.
Councillor Sandi Merifield, who represents Felsted, said at the meeting: “One of the main things with the neighbourhood plan was that they have an extension of one of the Dunmow surgeries in Felsted. The building is no longer fit for purpose.
“There was a possibility it would have to close. They wanted a new surgery and they managed to get the CCG on board and agreed it so the section 106 was that the developer would have to build the building, it would belong to the community trust and they would lease it back to the CCG.”
Planning committee member Councillor Richard Freeman said: “The thing about doctors surgeries is that they are a bit like bird boxes – you can put them up but the birds don’t necessarily come to inhabit them.
“That they have managed to get the CCG on board deserves a prize.”
The plans have the support of the parish council which said it was a “well thought out proposal that should provide the community with the assurance of a future local health facility for Felsted residents”.
A total of 33 houses for open market are to be built – six three bedroom, 21 four bedoom and 6 five bedroom. The committee heard that because the developer is paying for a surgery the number of affordable homes has been reduced from the 40 per cent target as per the current Uttlesford local plan to 13 per cent.
Councillor Mark Lemmon said: “I think it’s a very good development. It shows what can be done if developers work with the neighbourhood plans.”