Greens push for primary care as part of Water Lane development
Green councillors in St David’s, Exeter, a ward earmarked for a major new housing development, have written to NHS Devon challenging their lack of plans to commission new primary care facilities in the area [1]. Greens say the scale of the Water Lane development – with over 1500 new homes – merits its own dedicated facility and provides an opportunity to provide primary care for other St David’s residents and other nearby new developments. The ward currently does not have a GP surgery. Exeter City Council is expected to adopt a supplementary planning document on Water Lane at its meeting this evening. [2]
Green councillor Diana Moore said:
“I have been shocked to learn that NHS Devon are looking to expand already stretched GP surgeries elsewhere rather than setting up a new local primary care facility. The lack of primary care as part of the Water Lane development is a false economy. People who cannot access the care they need will often present themselves at A&E, adding additional pressure and costs to already stretched NHS services.
“The suggestion that primary care for those living in the Water Lane development can be provided by extending existing services in other locations around Exeter just doesn’t stack up. NHS Devon has already made clear existing services are unable to meet demand from new developments in the city, so they need to properly justify this decision or bring forward proper plans to meet the needs of the new community. ”
Councillor James Banyard added:
“St David’s ward does not have a GP surgery at all. Not only are primary care facilities needed for the Water Lane development, but needed for existing residents in the ward too. This is an ideal opportunity to provide such services for all in the ward. Expecting people to travel from what’s supposed to be planned as a low carbon sustainable neighbourhood to access primary demand makes no environmental sense either since people will be forced to travel outside the ward on what are already congested and polluted roads.
“That’s why Green councillors are requesting that new primary care facilities are properly planned now, ahead of when they are needed, and provided for as part of the Water Lane development.”
ENDS
Notes
[1] Letter in full:
15th July 2024
Dear Mr Dicken
Primary Care in the new Water Lane Development
Over the last three years Exeter City council has been developing plans as part of its ‘Liveable Exeter’ programme for the development of the Water Lane area of St David’s Ward, in the city centre of Exeter. The development is expected to create 1,567 homes and a likely population of some 3,290 people in the Water Lane site alone, notwithstanding nearby other large developments approved or in the pipeline already, and the additional Liveable Exeter sites identified in the vicinity.
The Council has developed a supplementary planning document which sets out the requirements for ‘sustainable community’. The document and supplementary Planning Document (SPD) can be found here: Liveable Water Lane: Development Framework and Design Code – Exeter City Council
Primary care facilities are an essential part of that development and the expectation for the provision of these are set out in that document.
However, I have been told by the City Council Planning team that NHS Devon have declined to commit to commissioning new primary care facilities, instead requesting an extension to existing services, in particular GP services in other locations around Exeter.
St David’s ward does not have a GP surgery in the ward at all, and residents already have to travel to adjacent areas to access primary healthcare. The case for further extending existing GP surgeries is unconscionable given that NHS Devon has objected to significantly smaller developments in the city because of the inability of existing services and surgeries to meet need. I understand a number of planning decisions have allotted funds for extension of GPs surgeries for those developments and I know the GP surgery at St Thomas now has plans for an extension to meet increased need.
The scale of the Water Lane development and adjacent liveable Exeter site and other developments, merits a dedicated facility in the Water Lane SPD area, as recognised in the SPD. Having no or limited access to primary care will have a knock-on effect on secondary healthcare, especially A&E services, as those people who cannot access primary care usually will often themselves at the A&E which adds additional pressure on the already stretched NHS services. Setting up new primary care facilities also align to the priorities set out in the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Devon 2020-25.
We would therefore like the ICB to explain what work it plans to do to for this new urban development to:
- Secure a new GMS service contract; or
- Negotiate with existing GMS service providers to relocate or expand existing services providers into the Water Lane area;
- develop a new (APMS or PMS) contract to create and procure a new premises’ location in the Water Lane SPD area;
- Or perhaps you see there is some other approach to provide services or facilitate negotiations to ensure provision in this area?
If the ICB considers that Water Lane does not require primary care services please can you provide the evidence base that has informed its current position and demonstrate that existing primary care facilities can sufficiently expand in a timely way to meet the needs of the new community and how this complies with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
To ensure that this development is viable and sustainable it is absolutely vital that these decisions are made at this early planning stage, ahead of need, as incremental decision making will cause community and individual harm.
I look forward to hearing your plans and how you intend to progress these with the local planning authority.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Diana Moore
Councillor James Banyard
Councillor Tess Read
Please note this letter and the reply is a matter of public interest and will be published online and in print. Any matters in your reply which are confidential and not for reproduction should be indicated as such.
CC:
Cllr Phil Bialyk, Leader Exeter City Council
Ian Colinson, Director of Planning Exeter City Council
Steve Brown, Director of Public Health and Communities, Devon County Council
Steve Race, MP
[2] Liveable Water Lane: Development Framework and Design Code – Exeter City Council