Have your say on the medical centre

Plans have been laid to move the centre to the outskirts of the town at Gore Cross. Although the town council will not decide on the application, councillors want to hear people's views on the controversial move.

Bridport town, district and county councillor Sandra Brown said she had yet to meet anyone who thought Gore Cross was the right place to move the cramped medical centre.

"While no-one would deny that we need larger premises for the fast-growing population of Bridport and district, to put a new centre on the far northern outskirts of the town does not seem the most convenient place for it."

It would add to existing traffic problems at the school in St Andrew's Road, she said. "To those without transport, and there are many among our most vulnerable people, the cost of a taxi to Gore Cross will be in the region of £6-£8. Where are they meant to find this from their stretched budgets?

"Those in chairs or young mums pushing prams will either have to walk or try catching the bus which does not go frequently, and only one wheelchair or pram can go on each journey. "Has anyone really thought this through?"

Coun David Tett said the south west quadrant of the town should be revisited. He criticised the lack of communication over the move before the planning bid was submitted.

He said: "I understand MedCentres may well have approached the economic development department of the council over the land at Gore Cross, but Dr David Evans, the director of planning and environment has not been consulted.

"I cannot say how the siting of the medical centre would feature in the plans for its regeneration, but I am confident that a development of this nature would provide much needed funding to bring this part of town back into use."

Tim Crabtree, who is involved in a project to set up a community property trust, said there was still time to resolve the issue as he understood firm plans did not have to be in place until March, 2006, and not as has been said, by the end of this financial year.

This follows a meeting with doctors and the primary care trust this week.

Mr Crabtree said he was disappointed that the various initiatives in the town, such as community planning and the coastal and towns initiative hadn't been called on to help.

"I feel very disillusioned. It was four years ago that the market and coastal town initiative was set up.

"If something like that can't help sort out an issue like this, what is the point? It does make a bit of a mockery of it."

Mr Crabtree said the issue about space and increasing car parking needed to be balanced against the needs of people on low incomes, including the elderly, disabled and single parents.

"We need to look at the bigger picture. There is a higher proportion of these people in the centre of Bridport. Then there are the transport issues and also the fact that a development of this scale could have helped in the broader regeneration of the south west quadrant."

He said that even though land was more expensive in the middle of town it did not mean there were not possibilities that could be provided by the Regional Development Agency or the district council.

"But I would say that if public funding were to go into purchasing a site in the centre of town that would need to be protected by trust because otherwise you are just subsidising the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) developer."

Mr Crabtree offered to help with a plan B but he said it was the RDA and district council who would be responsible for making it work.

People will be allowed to speak from 7pm at the meeting at Mountfield on Monday.