GP’s bid for two extra rooms splits opinion

Tiverton surgery could lose £140,000

A bid to create two more clinical rooms at a Mid Devon town’s GP surgery has split opinion ahead of scrutiny by planners.

Clare House Surgery, which occupies the Grade II-listed Clare House on Newport Street in Tiverton, wants to carry out internal work to add the extra rooms.

While Mid Devon District Council’s planning officers note the listed building has been “subject to significant extensions for its use as a surgery”, they raise concerns that the “surviving and legible historic floor plan” would be “adversely impacted” by the latest proposals.

But if the proposal is refused, then the surgery would likely lose a £140,000 grant it has been given by NHS England to do the works.

Kensa Harris, group manager at Amicus Health which runs the surgery, said it frequently had times when doctors had to use rooms in the building which aren’t specifically GP rooms and so wants the extra two rooms to ensure its clinicians have their own dedicated space.

“We’re constantly looking at how we juggle it,” she said.

“There are days when we  have to ask clinicians to work in other parts of the building and this isn’t about looking at growth and planning ahead, this is about meeting the demand right now.”

Ms Harris added that the surgery was just one of 10 in Devon to receive a grant from NHS England’s Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation fund and that it had to be used by the end of March.

If the planning application is refused, then it is likely the cash would be lost.

“It would be a problem [if the planning application was refused] as we have looked at alternatives and with that funding, there are no immediate alternative solutions,” she said.

The plans will go before the council’s planning committee because the recommendation to refuse the scheme by officers has been questioned by one of the local councillors.

The surgery sits in the Tiverton Castle ward, overseen by Councillor Ben Holdman (Liberal Democrat) and DavidWulff (Liberal Democrat).

It is run by Amicus Health, which was formed in 2017 when Clare House Surgery in Tiverton and Bampton Surgery joined together. 

The practice is still run by locally based partners and provides NHS medical services to more than 18,700 patients, the surgery’s website states.

A report prepared for the committee, which will discuss the plans next week (Wednesday 12 November), states the work required to create the two new rooms would “join to the two existing windows [and] result in a visible change externally” alongside concerns about new ventilation apertures.

It adds: “The proposed walls would obscure and obstruct the windows at ground floor [level] upon the listed building, adversely impacting a historic and an architectural feature that positively contributes to the significance of the heritage asset.

“The proposals would also adversely impact how one experiences and understands the special historic and architectural interest of the heritage asset and the classical proportions of the listed building.”

Planners also fear moulded cornices and ceiling roses could be impacted by the works.

Collectively, planners believe the proposal “would fail to preserve the special interest of the Grade II listed building”, and suggest there is “no compelling evidence” why the additional rooms cannot be created in a different way that does not cause harm to the heritage aspects of the building.

However, Ms Harris highlights that the surgery had “definitely made the plan with the building in mind” and that “nothing in the proposal is irreversible”.

“We have done what we can to make sure any changes we make can be reversed if needed,“ she said.