Doctors want to build Uckfield surgery before starting access road
.jpg "Doctors want to build Uckfield surgery before starting access road")
The Meads Medical Centre, Uckfield, is seeking to amend a condition of its planning permission to develop a new surgery on land adjacent to the town’s link road.
At present the surgery has permission to build a new surgery with a condition that construction does not start until the access road has been completed.
It now wants the condition varied so that the access road does not have to be completed until the first occupation of the surgery building.
Nearby residents have objected with some saying they believe the access road might never be built, forcing extra traffic on to the neighbouring West Park estate.
The new surgery is off the B2102 on land between the Rocks Park and West Park housing estates.
In its application, the Meads says it is seeking the change so that surgery building can be started prior to the off-site roadworks, facilitating an earlier start to the development.
One resident of nearby Batchelor Way told Wealden District Council: “The access road needs to be created prior to the development in order to provide reasonable safe access to the site by construction traffic.
“Any delay in constructing the access road until just prior to occupation could lead to the new access road not proceeding due to lack of funds after construction or other similar reason.
“There is not existing access to the site suitable for construction traffic including delivery of materials. It is essential that the access road be constructed prior to any construction works,” he wrote.
Another objector points out that without a new road to the site vehicles will need to access the building site via existing residential roads, “causing disturbance, danger and disruption to local residents”.
“These are residential roads, with speed humps and are not designed for construction traffic. There is a major safety issue involved, especially as regards local children,” he wrote.
Outline (in principle) planning permission to build a surgery on the site was first granted in 2005.
A detailed application in 2008 was subsequently withdrawn. A second, detailed application, was approved in February 2009.
You can read more details on the plan on the Wealden District Council website here
See also:
(Added to site Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012)
