Marlborough’s Medical Practice has revealed that it will not be able to cope with a host of new patients if plans go ahead for a 64-bed “close care and dementia care home” plus 28 assisted living units is built on Wiltshire Council’s old depot site on the Salisbury Road.
This was one of a host of new objections raised when the Town Council’s planning committee discussed the project on Monday – they included the safety of the entrance, trees and car parking on site – and decided to delay their decision for a week.
The development of the site, where Sainsbury’s made an abortive supermarket bid in competition with nearby Tesco’s, has caused concern because of the “nightmare” traffic conditions on the Salisbury Road, heavily used by lorries.
Beechcroft Developments Limited and Porthaven Care Homes have already informed Wiltshire Council that there is a shortage of dedicated dementia beds in the area and addressed the impact of the development on the Marlborough Medical Practice and, in their submission, added: “The general improvement of services and care to elderly people requires GPs to work closely with care homes such as ours…Unfortunately many GPs miss this opportunity as they view care homes in a negative way.”
But Councillor Noel Barrett-Morton told the meeting that the Medical Practice had informed him that they did not have the resources to look after an influx of elderly patients, and added: “I find this scheme unacceptable.”
Councillor Richard Allen declared: “The doctor’s surgery needs to respond to the needs of the community because they are getting paid handsomely for it.
“It is up to the doctors to make their case to Wiltshire Council and if they can’t cope it raises the question of a second medical practice being opened in Marlborough.”
Councillor Allen had earlier demanded that a site visit was necessary before a decision could be made. The committee needed to see new detailed drawings for the widening of the entrance to the care home site, to ensure it was safe for those leaving the site, especially as cars were parked on the opposite side of the road.
He raised too the lack of adequate parking on site for either residents or the projected staff of 120, and his plea for a site visit was echoed by Councillor Bryan Castle, chairman of the council’s Open Spaces and Amenities Committee, who raised concerns about the number of trees on the site due to be felled.
“This is a development on the side of an escarpment that can be seen from the south and also from the north,” he pointed out. “And if we are not careful we will be going along with what the developer is saying and we could lose a lot of trees.”
Councillor Billy Lam suggested that the traffic problem would be solved if a new road into the site was created at the Business Park roundabout and Councillor Andrew Kirk Wilson feared that the 120 staff to be employed would be paid minimal wages.
“The concern that I have is that these are not the kind of employers that we should encourage,” he added.
But Councillor Margaret Rose, vice-chairman of the Planning Committee, ruled that was not a planning issue to be debated.
The committee agreed to seek a site visit, view the detailed drawings of the proposed widening of the Salisbury Road entrance and talk to the Marlborough Medical Practice before making a decision on the scheme next week.
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