A LEADING Pershore councillor has called for more land to be sold to a popular town medical centre to avoid nearby streets being ‘swamped’ by parked cars.
Coun Charles Tucker, who represents the town on Wychavon District Council, has called on NHS property bosses to increase the land they’re selling to Abbotswood Medical Centre.
Ahead of a planning committee meeting on Thursday (October 15) to debate proposals for a one-storey extension to the centre, Coun Tucker raised fears about the car parking should the plans be given the green light.
The Liberal Democrat councillor is concerned there won’t be enough spaces for patients to park in however the surgery says the extension is needed to cope with current pressures on their services and there are no plans to increase patient lists.
If approved by councillors, the medical centre will see more consultation rooms added providing more space for nurses and GPs.
However, the plans only include increasing parking spaces from 36 to 52, bringing warnings from the Town Council and Coun Tucker that it’s simply not enough and the impact it could have on roads around the surgery.
Coun Tucker said: “What’s needed is for NHS Property Services to increase the land they’re selling to the Abbotswood Surgery, so that the doctors can provide an adequate car park.”
“Otherwise the combination of 21 staff cars displaced from the hospital next door, plus the extra traffic as patient numbers grow will swamp the spaces provided.
“52 spaces are being provided where 64 are needed, plus an ambulance and loading bay,” he added.
Concerned residents are meeting with the town’s MP Harriet Baldwin today (Friday) to call on her to get NHS Property Services to change their plans.
“The stress of visiting the doctor is bad enough without having to negotiate a dreadful access round a sharp bend into Nogains, then find a space in a very cramped car park, while competing with other traffic going in and out,” Coun Tucker said.
“If there are no spaces then patients will end up parking in Nogains and blocking residents’ drives. “It’s not good for patients and it’s not good for residents,” he added.
