A landmark car dealership will become home to a new health care centre as part of a £39million overhaul of frontline services in Southend.
The first of five primary care centres will be set up in London Road, Leigh, on the Dragon Motor Company site, an area identified as having a lack of modern healthcare facilities.
However, Leigh Clinic in Burnham Road is to be sold off for redevelopment, prompting calls to guard against the site being developed as a block of flats.
The new centre, proposed by Southend Primary Care Trust, will house GPs, community and children's services as well as chiropody, district nursing and mental health teams that will be relocated from the Leigh clinic.
There will also be room for services such as speech therapy or dental care. Proceeds from the sale of the Leigh clinic will go towards the costs of the new centre at Dragon Motors, which will be bought by a private developer in an agreement and leased out to Southend Primary Care Trust.
Trust executives approved the plan and they will now go to a public consultation in September.
Service development manager Pat Murray said: "I am really pleased we can now get on to the consultation and really move forward. We have been waiting for this day and now we can push ahead."
A spokeswoman said the decision to knock down the old Leigh Clinic was because it was an old site, which would cost too much money to revamp.
Published Monday July 19, 2004
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