N Bersted surgery's £1m plan to rebuild

Proposals for a health centre to replace Bersted Green Surgery were being agreed last nightby councillors.

The members of Arun District Council's development control committee were recommended to approve the major scheme.

The expected decision should see work begin at the Durlston Drive site within a couple of months. The new premises are set to open next year.

They will see three portable buildings used by the surgery's secretarial staff for the past five years removed in the most ambitious changes to the site since the current surgery was opened 22 years ago. Its 630sq m of floor space will be replaced by almost three times as much '“ 1,640sq m '“ to reflect modern medical needs.

Dr Matt Bradstock-Smith, the surgery's senior partner for the redevelopment, said he estimated the cost of the scheme at well over 1m.

It is being carried out by medical centre development company, Civils.

"We are all ready to go ahead with this scheme. We have been planning it for five or six years," said Dr Bradstock-Smith.

"The new building will make a huge difference to us.

"At the moment, because we are using 20-year-old premises, we have only about half the floorspace which a practice of our size should have.

"We are all room hopping and we are not able to provide the service we would like.

"There is not enough consulting space, treatment rooms, office space or even cupboards and storage space."

The practice has eight GPs, four nurses and two health care assistants among about 30 staff serving just over 10,000 patients.

That number is expected to rise to between 12,000 and 13,000 when the site six development in North Bersted is fully occupied in a few years.

The new health centre will be built over two floors to replace the existing single-storey building.

Most of the consulting and treatment rooms will be on the ground floor with a pharmacy.

Space for a separate health service user, such as a chiropodist, will be provided on the first floor.

The new building will be put up in an L-shape mainly on the south of the site around the current premises.

These will then be knocked down to form a new car park with 32 spaces.

Because of the expansion, the surgery will encroach on the adjoining Laburnum Grove recreation ground. A chunk of about 700sq m will be lost to the building work.

But Arun planning officer Keith Wheway told the committee in a report the loss of the open space was acceptable because it was for an essential social need.

"The replacement health centre will be larger than the existing premises but it will not have any greater impact on the visual or residential amenities of surrounding properties, the nearest of which are the three-storey flats to the north," he stated.