Bristol City Council could get developers to pay NHS to build new healthcare centres
The idea has been put forward as part of an ongoing row
Bristol City Council could get property developers to pay the NHS to help build new healthcare centres in a solution to an ongoing row. Councillors warned that the second most common reason residents oppose new developments is overstretched GP surgeries.
Local NHS bosses at the Integrated Care Board have repeatedly asked the council for a portion of “community infrastructure levy”, which is effectively a tax charged on developers for improving local public services. But the council has refused these requests due to a lack of detailed plans.
If this cash isn’t spent, then there’s a risk the money would get sent back to the developer, instead of improving roads or providing affordable housing. But the planning committee A were told of a new plan to resolve this long-standing issue on Wednesday, December 17.
Labour Councillor Katja Hornchen said: “We have this to-ing and fro-ing with the ICB where they absolutely ignored us for years and now they are suddenly getting interested in helping with planning, and realising that there are a lot of new buildings and something needs to be done.
It’s the number two reason for people not wanting developments in their area.
“The first one is traffic. The second one is healthcare, because they’re already waiting for doctor appointments and can’t get them.”
The questions came after residents opposed three recent developments, all of which received permission on Wednesday. Each development was criticised by local residents, partly due to parking but also due to a shortage of doctors and adequate healthcare services in the area.
Jim Cliffe, planning obligations manager at the council, said: “The ICB has in recent months and years started to quite regularly seek a contribution for health provision, and we’re not unsympathetic to them. But the difficulty at the moment that we have is that the ICB acknowledges that in this area they have no plans to expand capacity in their existing surgeries.
“And they have no plan in place to provide a new surgery anywhere. So they’re making an ask for money without really any idea as to what they’re going to do with it. If, for example, they had an allocated site and said ‘this is in our capital programme to be built between 2028 and 2030’ to serve these communities, it would be a much stronger case for seeking an obligation.
“But they’re not really in that place at the moment. Our concern is that there’s potential for failing the regulatory tests and they’re asking for substantial sums. But if we were to make a contribution for a few hundred thousands pounds, and as a result of that we get less affordable housing, and they’re unavailable to spend that few hundred thousand pounds, and the developer then asks for it back after five or eight years, we’re in a bit of a lose-lose situation.”
Instead, discussions are taking place between council bosses and the Integrated Care Board about setting up a yearly pot of money. This would be what’s known as strategic community infrastructure levy, where a portion of cash from developers is pooled for infrastructure benefiting the wider city, instead of just the immediate area where new buildings are built.
More details are expected to be revealed soon, with a report going to the council’s strategy and resources policy committee. Until this is resolved, thousands more people will move into neighbourhoods where existing residents already struggle to book a doctor’s appointment.
Mr Cliffe added: “They could call on it, as and when they have schemes that they wish to deliver. We’re collecting CIL all the time, and it’s there to provide infrastructure for the growth of the city. That’s probably the most likely approach that we’ll end up with. But at the moment we don’t feel we’re in a strong position in the absence of a clear plan on their part as to what they want to do.”