Plaza owners draw up their own plans for new £10m health centre

Published on Monday 27 July 2009 10:28

HEALTH bosses are facing rival plans to build a £10 million health centre in the heart of Wester Hailes.

NHS Lothian has long planned to construct a purpose-built unit away from the main centre, although little progress has been made in the last two years.

As a result, the owners of Westside Plaza have launched their own bid to create a new centre – but one which would remain on the shopping centre site.

Crucially, they said it could be delivered in budget and significantly quicker than the health board's plans for the land next to the Greenway Centre, which has lain empty for nearly 15 years.

They said moving the health facilities would cause considerable damage to the businesses left in the centre, and mean locals would have a longer and more dangerous walk – they would access the building through an underpass at the other side of the railway line. The bid has already won support from hundreds of locals in a survey, which indicated 78 per cent were in favour of keeping the centre where it was.

Centre manager John Lynch said: "It is great to see both tenants and the local community coming together to give their backing to the retention of the health centre at Westside Plaza.

"This proposal will see the health centre delivered considerably ahead of the schedule proposed for a ten-acre site and at no additional costs. It seems a win-win situation for NHS Lothian, City of Edinburgh Council and Westside Plaza."

Centre owner AWG Property has written to NHS Lothian bosses and politicians in the hope they will consider this alternative.

The health centre would comprise a range of services, including dentistry, and would be like other new health centres planned for East and West Lothian.

The relocation, which would also have included 150 new homes, was supposed to be up and running by this year, but there is clearly no chance of that happening now.

Colin Bayes, the general manager of the Westside Odeon Cinema, said: "The retention of a new health centre at Westside Plaza is backed by the local community and tenants and, being in an accessible location, is an ideal solution.

"As tenants we are deeply concerned about the impact the relocation will have on our economic well-being and the attempt by Wester Hailes to get town centre status.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and an excellent chance to provide Wester Hailes with a state-of-the-art facility as well as act as a catalyst to drive footfall to the cinema shopping centre. It is vital we get this right."

No-one from NHS Lothian was available for comment.

www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

www.westsideplaza.co.uk