Published: November 26, 2008
Exclusive: New plans for £2.5million medical centre at Berrow unveiled

New proposals to build a £2.5million medical centre at Berrow, which will provide extra health facilities for the Burnham-On-Sea area including two NHS dentists, have been submitted to planners this week.

Eight months after the first set of plans were withdrawn amid concerns that the building, pictured below, was out-of-keeping, the scheme is now poised to move forward once more.

Debbie Hale, Management Partner at Burnham Medical Centre, told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: "We have updated the plans to address all of the points raised earlier in the year."

"We've altered the access to the centre, expanded the parking facilities, and changed the appearance of the building to make it blend in more with the surroundings."

She stressed that while the Berrow property is being funded by the partners at Burnham-On-Sea Medical Centre and Somerset Primary Care Trust, there are no plans to change the Burnham surgery.

"We don't plan to move Burnham Medical Centre or change it. The new centre at Berrow will provide extra facilities, including two NHS dentists, to help us develop additional facilities to meet the demands of our patients," she said.

"Patient numbers have grown significantly in recent years and we're pushed to provide all the facilities we can in Love Lane."

Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported in March that the original planning application had been temporarily withdrawn after the applicants decided to pull it in order to allow further information to be submitted to Sedgemoor District Council.

Dr Harvey Sampson, GP Partner at Burnham Medical Centre, told Burnham-On-Sea.com earlier this year: "Our premises have now reached 'bursting-point' and there is no room to expand further. We have therefore decided to build a Branch Surgery to serve our patients who live in the Berrow and Brean areas. Somerset Primary Care Trust are fully supportive of our plans to do this."

In January, dozens of residents attended a meeting in Berrow Village Hall to hear more about the proposed Berrow Health Campus where the plans got a mixed reaction.

RELATED LINKS:

Berrow health centre plans withdrawn by planners
Residents flock to see plans for new health centre