Plan leaves GP centre marooned outside Somerset town

A lack of public transport links for a planned new £3.2m GP centre in north Somerset have left it "marooned on the outskirts" of town, a council has said.

Sunnyside Road in Weston-super-Mare has been earmarked for a new health centre hub serving 15,000 patients.

The Weston Rugby Club site has been described as ideal by Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire clinical commissioning groups (CCG).

But the council said the road its on was not suitable for public transport.

The rugby club redevelopment includes commercial units, 200 homes and North Somerset Council also wants to build a school. 

Talks are now under way on ways to improve accessibility, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Ciaran Cronnelly, the council's health overview and scrutiny panel chair, said in a report: "Sunnyside Road, by itself, is not suitable for public transport as there is no turnaround for a bus.

"In effect this will be a health centre marooned on the outskirts of Weston if the current plan remains in place - this is not acceptable." 

But at a scrutiny panel meeting on 19 July, he said an access road through the site would be possible if fewer houses were built or the school was moved. 

"If nothing changes and access to public transport isn't incorporated into the site we wouldn't be comfortable with supporting that," he said.

The CCG insisted the location was "ideal" and said it would continue to work with the site's developer and the council to "refine proposals".

The planning application is due to be submitted in August.