MPs call for medical centre at Mornings Mill Farm

Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd and Lewes MP Maria Caulfield are lobbying Wealden District Council to secure the centre for Polegate and Willingdon residents – without a proposed housing development of hundreds of homes.

They have asked the authority to use a Compulsory Purchase Order on the land set-a-side within the Hindsland/Mornings Mill Farm development proposal for a new medical centre to “alleviate the urgent pressures” on existing facilities in the area.

A controversial development for around 700 homes on the site comes with proposals for a new medical centre, so long as the whole housing development is agreed to.

But the MPs argue, though residents want an additional medical centre, they are against such a significant increase of housing.

Stephen Lloyd MP said, “There is no doubt that the plan for such a housing development represents an overdevelopment of the site and will cause massive pressures on local services and infrastructure.

“The need for a new medical centre, however, is clear for all to see. The demand for GP services has far outgrown local provision and the Polegate medical centre has reached saturation point.

“It’s obvious we need a new one and a compulsory purchase of land just for a medical centre by the council would solve all our problems.”

And Maria Caulfield MP said, “Meeting with local GPs in Polegate for months now, it is clear there is a desperate need for a new medical centre in Polegte. GPs need a premises that will enable them to see more patients, take on more staff and provide extra services.

“Polegate deserves a state of the art new medical centre but by developers attaching it to a deeply unpopular housing development that won’t get support it means residents are missing out. That is why we are calling for Wealden council to take a lead on this so it can be separated from the housing development and delivered as a standalone project.”