I have mentioned previously my plea for the NHS to seek more substantial sums to address the extra demand in primary and secondary care that will arise through more development. One big complaint from existing residents is that, if its difficult to get a doctor’s appointment now, then what will it be like when we have more people moving into the area? This complaint is well made and it is fair to state the NHS did not seek funding when developments were approved, whereas the education sector did.
I wrote about this earlier this year, sharing the 2020 Solihull Infrastructure Delivery Plan. One of my concerns was that, as the document began its like at the start of Covid, we have seen an exponential demand in primary and secondary care and the 2020 data needed revisiting: https://cllrkenhawkins.co.uk/…/solihull-infrastructure…/
I can highlight the Section 106 funding requests submitted by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) within the local Birmingham and Solihull NHS. I note there is some discrepancy in that there are two developments of the same size (450 homes) and two different values. I suspect the £862,917 request may be for both the Tilehouse Lane and Tythe Barn Lane site combined but will confirm. The sum for the larger Dog Kennel Lane site is an approximate on but I expect it to be closer to £2m.
What is special about the Dog Kennel Lane site though is that following a practice manager at Tanworth Lane surgery seeking information, we met and engaged with developers and the ICB. There does seem to be a willingness to establish a new surgery on site.
Tilehouse Lane – 450 homes at £862,917
Tythe Barn Lane – up to 90 homes – at £345,167
Wood Farm – 450 homes at £414,947
Dog Kennel Lane – 1,110 homes (approx.)
450 homes at £862,917
750 homes – tbc
The submission re the Wood Farm site has a paragraph that reads: “This financial request is based on current capacity in the area. There are 5 primary care sites around a 1-mile radius of the proposed development but based on high-level analysis there is insufficient capacity to accommodate the new population. In addition, Community Care, Mental Health and Acute services in BSOL are under increased pressure and are already operating at capacity. A contribution for Primary Care, Community Care, Mental Health and Acute Care is the minimum requirement for the development and we would therefore request that a s106 request is worded flexibly to allow for the contribution to be spent in the vicinity of the site.”
This is not to state that each application is cut and dry and will be approved. I will post an update as to where we are with each site very soon.
Ken Hawkins 