In accordance with Chichester District Council’s scheme for public question time the Council will receive any questions which have been submitted by members of the public in writing by noon two working days before the meeting. Each questioner will be given up to three minutes to ask their question. The total time allocated for public question time is 15 minutes subject to the Chair’s discretion to extend that period.
Minutes:
The following question and answer were heard at the meeting.
Question from Robin Kidd:
An item (IBP/877) in the IBP
allocates £420,000 to “Extensions to Chichester City GP
surgeries: Langley House.” This GP practice, which
provides excellent healthcare to local residents, is being expanded
to meet “Housing increase and directly associated GP
registration”, as the NHS, with Council support, has decided
that a GP practice will not be permitted in the new medical
facility, authorised by the Council two weeks ago, at Minerva
Heights (the Whitehouse Farm development).
Is this a sound investment of public money by the
Council?
1. The practice is based in a Grade-II Listed Building in a conservation area. Even with the extension, I understand that there is some question as to whether the facility will be fully fit-for-purpose, in line with NHS standards (including Health Building Notes (HBNs) and Health Technical Memorandums (HTMs)). The building and the planned extension are understandably constrained by the cramped old building and the site. I note that fitness-for-purpose is in no way a planning question. However it is most certainly a consideration for investment of public money. Why use public money to invest in something which may not be fit for purpose?
2. The Council has declared a Climate Emergency. This investment pays for a scheme whereby those who are ill and need to see a doctor, instead of being seen locally within Minerva Heights, will have to travel into the city centre. Being unwell, it is less likely that patients will be able to walk or cycle to the surgery – instead they will drive or be driven into the crowded and congested city
Answer from Cllr Susan Taylor:
Thank you for your questions.
The main purpose of collecting CIL is to spend it on infrastructure to support the growth identified in the adopted Local Plan in a timely manner. Health facilities are prioritised as essential items of infrastructure. The patient list for Langley House Surgery is full, and all of the other GP practices within Chichester City are close to capacity as a result of the growth of the area. There is thus an urgent need to provide enhanced capacity in order to serve the needs of patients in Chichester City.
Although the West Sussex Coastal Commissioning Group (the CCG) originally identified a need for a new medical centre at Minerva Heights (i.e., West of Chichester), after discussions between the CCG and local GP’s, it was clear that there was no interest from them in relocating. So, in 2020 the CCG changed its strategy towards expanding GP’s existing practices (subject to obtaining planning permission) as this would be a faster way of meeting the urgent need. Expansions of existing GP surgeries also represent better value for money than the provision of completely new surgeries. The original proposals for a new surgery at Minerva Heights was estimated to cost £4.5m of which £1.75m was requested to be funded from CIL, whereas the CCG has requested a considerably lower sum (£420,000) from CIL to fund the extension of Langley House Surgery. The CCG also currently intends to expand the surgery at Southbourne and to relocate the Cathedral Practice into a new health hub within the Southern Gateway, so delivering a range of improved health facilities.
In terms of your comments regarding the merits of the specific development proposals for Langley House, the matters raised are primarily planning issues for the Council as Local Planning Authority (including the Planning Committee) to consider and not Council in respect of its consideration of the IBP today. I should also emphasise that it is the role of the CCG to decide whether a practice is fit for purpose and how it intends to serve existing and future patients in the Chichester City locality given the level of growth.
In terms of the climate emergency and your comments regarding the need for patients from Minerva Heights to travel, the CCG asked local GP’s if they were interested in operating from a new medical centre at the Whitehouse Farm development and none of them expressed interest. GP practices are private businesses who contract their services to the NHS and cannot be forced to operate in a particular location regardless of how sustainable that might be. A practice cannot be built that would stand empty because there is no GP interest in it. In addition, Langley House Surgery is in a sustainable location to serve residents living to the west side of the city and this surgery being located in the city itself is served by a regular bus service.