WEST Somerset residents could be in line for a double injection of good health with innovative plans for a purpose-built doctors' and dentists' surgery. The proposal is due to be considered by planners just a matter of days after news was revealed of Minehead's Seaward Way 'healthplex' scheme. Dulverton and Exmoor residents look set to benefit from ten new consulting rooms under plans for a replacement for the town's ageing Trumpington House surgery. The development is being heralded as "hugely exciting" and an answer to the area's currently constrained health needs. Two weeks ago, West Somerset District Council unveiled proposals to strike a £2.6 million land deal to secure the future of the ambitious lifelong learning and leisure centre New Horizons and a new community hospital. Now, members of Exmoor National Park Authority's planning committee are being recommended to approve the scheme when they meet on Tuesday. The Dulverton project will involve the creation of a "contemporary" new surgery, boasting facilities for both doctors and dentists. It would be built in the grounds of the home and ancillary dental surgery currently owned and operated by Peter Stenner in Jury Road. In a letter in support of the plans, Mr Stenner and his wife Linda said: "This is a hugely exciting project both architecturally and conceptually and one with the needs of the community firmly at its heart. "To be part of this would be both refreshing and rewarding." The two-storey surgery would boast a dispensary, two GP consulting rooms, treatment rooms, an intermediate care area, offices and waiting area on the ground floor. A lift and stairs would take visitors to a second floor with three dentist and two GP consulting rooms. The committee will be told dentists currently operating at Mr Stenner's home, Pymble, would relocate to the new facilities. Planning officers will tell members: "The present doctors' surgery is located in Trumpington House located centrally within Dulverton. "The Local Plan acknowledges that the building is dated and generally unsuitable for its intended purpose and a new surgery is required for Dulverton. "The present building cannot be extended and has no dedicated parking for patients, ambulances and only a couple of spaces for doctors which, because of their siting, hinder the flow of traffic in the road. "Consequently, the practice has through one partner and then through the architect over the last two to three years looked with planning officers at numerous sites for the relocation of the surgery. ". . . It is considered that this is one, if not the most sustainable site available for the new surgery." But officers will tell members the chosen site is not without its own problems, most notably the need to protect mature trees and the need to combat nearby residents' fears over potential parking problems, additional traffic and access concerns. They will be told six letters had been received by the authority from members of the public, with three specifically objecting on highway and parking grounds. Dulverton Town Council had also raised concerns about trees, parking and an apparent "lack of information" associated with the application. An officer's report to the meeting states: "One of the main objections to the application is that the site location is unsuitable because cars have to travel through an estate of houses, including along Amory Road. "There is an additional concern that the car parking will not be adequate resulting in parking on the street, causing harm to road safety and neighbouring amenity. "There is also the issue of the relationship with the cars that drop-off and collect children from the two schools and new SureStart building and nursery." The committee will be told the applicants and had lengthy and detailed discussions with Magna housing association, the owners of the Fishersmead Community Centre which adjoined the southern end of the development site. They had agreed to remodel the community centre's car parking area to provide a total of 37 parking spaces for both the surgery's and the centre's use. Officers believed a parking survey supported the proposed level of parking provision, while highways experts felt the access roads of Barnsclose North and Amory Road were wide enough to cope with additional traffic. Officers conclude: "There is an acknowledged need to find new premises for the doctors' surgery in Dulverton and numerous sites have been investigated as possible locations. "The present application site is considered to have merit in comparison to many of the others in that it is a site close to residential properties and does not encroach into open countryside. "It is acknowledged that there are constraints on the site and that it is difficult to accommodate a building of the required size together with the necessary car parking, however, it is considered that the application achieves an appropriate solution. "The building is of a contemporary design. However, it is judged that the materials and design approach are acceptable in this location. Importantly, the scale of the building is appropriate for this site." Members of the committee will be given the opportunity to temporarily adjourn Tuesday's planning meeting to hold an impromptu site visit before returning to reach a decision. The current Trumpington House surgery serves around 4,000 patients and has one full-time and four part-time GPs. If the application is approved, construction is expected to take between ten months and a year.
