Healthcare plans for a major new development near Harlow are “not acceptable”, according to the NHS.

Existing residents of Hunsdon, Gilston and Eastwick have warned East Herts District Council they fear plans for new health services in the area will put lives at risk.

The planning committee at East Herts District Council greenlit the plans on Tuesday, February 28, as part of an 8,500-home scheme at Gilston – part of the larger Harlow and Gilston Garden Town project.

A new healthcare facility which is “far more than a GP surgery” is included in the plans, and the NHS will have first “right of refusal” to the building.

But a draft list of legal agreements between the developer and the council shows the building would be constructed at the developer’s expense, then leased back to the NHS at a near-market rate.

“We find ourselves in an unfortunate position where no acute healthcare contribution is being offered or supported,” Sue Fogden, of the NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, told the committee.

“East Herts District Council and the applicant have decided, without any consultation with the ICB, that serviced land will be provided, that the applicant will develop it and in return the ICB will pay market rent to recover the applicant’s costs.

“This is not acceptable to the ICB.”

Ms Fogden said the NHS needs “serviced land at nil value” and a financial contribution to take on the site.

She warned councillors’ decision to approve planning permission could prove “too little, too late” to secure the healthcare services which existing and new residents will need.

Anthony Bickmore of the Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group also spoke at the committee.

He said: “The NHS has made it clear to your officers and the applicants that it will not, for years, be able to staff and equip the health centre which the applicants have agreed to build in Gilston.

“Nothing scares the existing residents of our area more than the fact that lives will be lost and health care put at risk by this development and the lack of funding for medical care needed by new residents.”

East Herts District Council staff recommended that councillors grant planning permission.

“The on-site healthcare provision will cost nearly £15million and will deliver a centre which provides far more than a GP surgery,” their report reads.
It notes the NHS requested between £9.49m and £11.26m for acute care at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, and £2.07m for the East of England Ambulance Service.

“To address these various requests, the proposed strategy is to deliver a health centre in Village 1 that will cater for general practice requirements plus mental health care and community-based care,” it adds.

East Herts District Council sought legal advice on funding for acute care at Princess Alexandra.

“The funding of hospital and ambulance services is the remit of the NHS Hospital Trust and the UK government and is paid for through taxation by all citizens,” the report reads.

This means funding for hospitals falls outside the remit of planning permission rules.

According to the Harlow Gilston and Garden Town partnership – which incorporates the East Herts, Harlow and Epping Forest district councils, and Essex and Hertfordshire county councils – the development is an opportunity to “build sustainable communities”.

Cllr Linda Haysey (Con, Hertford Rural South), leader of East Herts District Council and a Garden Town Board voting member, said: “For many years, we have worked together as part of a five-council partnership to bring a vision to life for a new community at Harlow & Gilston that embraces and responds to the challenges of the future.

“The decision taken by councillors is a significant step towards ensuring our next generation can live and raise families of their own in East Herts.

“I understand residents will have concerns about the impact of development on this scale, but with that scale comes the investment needed to provide the new services and facilities that build sustainable communities.

“We can and have secured the necessary infrastructure to support growth – the schools, healthcare and transport our children and their families will rely on.”

Princess Alexandra Hospital is set to receive a new building as part of the government’s New Hospitals Programme.

According to the latest data, which covers December 2022, 9,595 patients were on a waiting list for a diagnostic test or procedure with Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust.

More than 550 of these patients waited 13 weeks or more for their diagnosis.