Suffolk GP practices set to expand ...
East Suffolk Council has allocated £1.5million to fund the expansion of three local doctors’ surgeries and ensure that residents benefit from improved health facilities in areas of housing growth.
The allocations were included in a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Spending Report, approved by Cabinet on September 3rd detailed how funding levied against new housing development is used to help deliver essential infrastructure.
The annual report highlights the work of East Suffolk Council’s CIL Spending Working Group (CSWG) during the preceding window of funding bids for proposed infrastructure projects.
Among 13 District CIL (DCIL) bids that were allocated a total £3.5m, following review through the CSWG, were proposals to expand Haven Health Surgery and Grove Medical Centre, in Felixstowe, and Cutlers Hill Surgery, in Halesworth, in order to meet the growing demand for clinical services.
Cllr Kay Yule
Councillor Kay Yule (pictured right), who is East Suffolk Council Cabinet member for Planning and Coastal Management, says: “There is a well-documented need for housing across the country, but as work continues to meet that need, we must consider the resulting need to grow capacity in services like health and social care. It is important that our larger housing developers help to financially meet that need.
“These projects directly relate to two of our strategic plan objectives as a local authority; to maximise health and well-being in our communities, and to support and deliver infrastructure for the economy.”
Funding worth £611,569.15 has been allocated to Suffolk Primary Care for the expansion of primary care at Haven Health Surgery, with the remaining £22,000 secured through other funding, to include an additional five clinical rooms and help futureproof future service delivery.
The project, supported by Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), will help offer up to 60 additional appointments per 1,000 patients per week and deliver more services in community settings.
Dr Paul Driscoll, a GP partner with Suffolk Primary Care, says: “We are delighted that East Suffolk Council has approved our bid for CIL funding so that this important extension can take place. It will give us a valuable opportunity to reconfigure the building so that it works more effectively for our patients. The extra space will also mean we can host additional services.
“Importantly, it will also ensure we can continue to meet demand in the future and offer high quality, accessible services to our patients as the population of Felixstowe increases.”
Another £61,641.68 will fund the conversion of four rooms at the Grove Medical Centre into clinical accommodation, with a large upstairs office also divided to include a clinical room and telephone consultation area.
Maddie Baker-Woods, Director of the Ipswich and East Suffolk Alliance, welcomed confirmation of the ESC funding.
She says: “We are grateful to East Suffolk Council for approving these CIL applications to support the development of health services in Felixstowe.
“This investment, along with other projects being delivered in the area, will see a total of 14 new rooms in the locality to increase capacity for patient services.
“Work is already underway on these projects, which we hope will be delivered by the end of Spring 2025 and help enhance healthcare provision for the local community.”
A further £777,903 will cover the entire cost of expanding Cutlers Hill Surgery to include improved welfare facilities, four new consultation rooms, healthcare assistant room and improved patient access.
The project is supported by Waveney and South Norfolk Integrated Care Board (ICB) working together with local primary care network, the South Waveney Area Network.
Paul Higham, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board Associate Director of Estates, says: “We are pleased to be working together with GP practices and East Suffolk Council to progress improvements to surgery buildings to provide additional capacity, helping transform how health and care services are delivered and supporting residents to access information and wider services that will help them to live healthy and well.”
Hayley Witham, Practice Manager at Cutlers Hill Surgery, says: “The practice is pleased to have been successful in its bid to East Suffolk Council for CIL funding, which will support the extension of the surgery building, providing an additional five consulting rooms – ensuring sustainability of the practice through capacity which will mean we can continue to provide an effective primary care medical service to our growing patient population.”
Meanwhile, Bungay Medical Practice is currently working with architects on plans to expand clinical floorspace following a successful CIL bid for £1,283,000 in 2023.
Rigby Whittaker, Practice Manager, says: “Following our successful bid in 2023 for CIL funding, the practice has been working with our landlord and the ICB on the plans for our scheme which will see improvements to the building, including an improved waiting area for our patients, and an extension providing four new consulting rooms. Subject to the planning process, we expect the scheme to complete in 2025.”
The Community Infrastructure Levy was adopted in the former Waveney District area in August 2013, and in the former Suffolk Coastal District area in July 2015.
CIL is paid on commencement of planning permissions for liable development where exemptions or relief from CIL has not been granted, allowing local authorities to raise funds from developers undertaking new building projects in their area.
Funding can be used on range of infrastructure needed as a result of development, including education, health and social care facilities, green spaces and leisure provision.
To date, East Suffolk Council has formally allocated over £14.3m of District CIL to a variety of local infrastructure projects.
The CIL Spending Working Group has also ringfenced £13m of District CIL to secure Health and Education projects proposed to be delivered over a five-year period.
A Local CIL Fund, based on a calculation of 3% of the District CIL received in the financial year, is held for smaller, local projects, while approximately £6.7m has been passed to parish and town councils through Neighbourhood CIL payments since the adoption of CIL in East Suffolk.
In recognition of the importance of play facilities, the CSWG has also developed a new 3% Local CIL Play Fund to operate alongside the existing Local CIL Fund from April 2025. The Local CIL Play Fund will focus on match funding play improvement projects in areas where new housing development create a need to improve existing facilities.
