Moulton Medical Centre can expand – despite car parking fears

Plans to extend a village medical centre have been passed – despite fears about car parking.

Moulton Medical Centre – which currently has more than 5,500 registered patients – was given permission to construct a part two storey, part single storey rear and side extension to the 45-year-old building by South Holland District Council’s planning committee.

This extension will include seven consulting rooms, three additional one to one rooms and a large office and meeting room and staff room within the extension.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting, Helen Raymond of agent RAW Architecture told the chamber the medical centre currently has 5,558 registered patients.

“The list expanded by 600 in the last six years and it is set to increase with new developments,” she added.

The plans included a change in access to the corner plot and would also see two car parking spaces lost to the expansion.

Proposals saw the High Street entrance become pedestrianised while cars would only be able to enter on East Cobgate.

Due to the need to grow the site, some doctors and staff members are currently having to work from home, and Coun Anthony Casson questioned whether their return to work on the larger site would lead to the loss of more spaces.

“It’s a very good medical centre but I do think it’s outgrown the site,” he said.

“I have some concerns about losing two car parking spaces. If there’s more staff coming back to work, as it was in the paper saying a few were working from home, that’d be losing more car parking spaces.”

Coun Andrew Woolf weighed up the pros and cons of an improved medical service leading to more on-road parking in the village.

“There isn’t enough room to allow all the staff to be able to give people the adequate medical care we’ve all come to expect and they’ve tried to do something about it,” he said.

“I’m not overly concerned about losing two car parking spaces given the impact it’ll give – having more staff there to see people.

“But it’s where do the patients go? There’s only one place they can go – on the road. Those spaces will be like gold dust.

“I’m not comfortable about it but I don’t see any alternative. Does the requirement of the medical need outweigh the vehicles on the highway?”

Coun Allan Beale visits the centre up to three times a week on prescription runs and labelled the current car park ‘inadequate’ but accepted the surgery needed to grow.

A number of councillors believed expanding the medical centre outweighed any other issues.

“I think we should be snatching the hand off and not delay the improvement in any way shape or form,” said Coun Andrew Tennant.

“We’re trying to keep people away from hospitals as much as we can and if people have to walk to the health centre then they’ll have to walk to the health centre rather than drive.”

Coun Jack Tyrrell said he would ‘like to see all health centres to start growing’ and Coun Thomas Sneath called the move ‘an opportunity to service more patients and offer more care’.