Designs for health centre unveiled despite calls for re-think over site

Published on Thursday 8 October 2009 10:06

DESIGNS for a long-awaited new health centre have been unveiled, despite local support for a rival scheme.

The NHS plans to build the Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre at a derelict ten-acre site at Harvesters Way. It will combine a GP practice, community health and social work services, and is due to open in summer 2012.

But businesses based at the nearby Westside Plaza shopping mall are leading calls for a centre to be built there instead. They say their plan has the support of 78 per cent of their users, and could be completed around a year earlier.

NHS Lothian and the city council say they chose the Harvesters Way site because it offered the best value and flexibility. It is only 100 metres from the shopping mall, but on the other side of a railway line.

JM Architects, who are designing the project, have also been asked to improve access between the health centre and Westside Plaza, by shortening the underpass and making an "attractive and safe pedestrian link".

The building will include physiotherapy, dentistry, speech and language therapy, midwifery and mental health services. It will also include council services, such as health and social care and children's services.

The Wester Hailes Health Agency, a voluntary organisation, will be housed in the building, offering therapeutic services such as counselling and massage, and there will be a healthy eating cafe and other community facilities.

The city council is also working with the Rowan Group and Prospect Housing Association to develop around 100 new homes at the site, including many classed as "affordable housing".

Local councillor Ricky Henderson welcomed the news, saying there was a clear need for more modern healthcare in the area.

He said: "There's a very old-fashioned 1960s building, with facilities which are inappropriate for the modern age. This has taken a long time, but finally it is making progress.

"Whilst the idea of making it part of the shopping centre has its merits, I think the general consensus was this is the best site

."

David Small, the general manager of the Edinburgh Community Health Partnership, said: "We have given a great deal of consideration to the different site options and are confident that the Harvesters Way site is the best.

"Its larger size offers greater scope and flexibility in terms of the design and better value."

But the owner of Westside Plaza, AWG Property Ltd, and many tenants have written to NHS Lothian and the city council pushing for their alternative plans to be considered. They held a display at Wester Hailes community library last night.

Centre manager John Lynch said:

"We are disappointed we were never consulted, and as tenants we are concerned about the impact the relocation will have on our economic wellbeing and the attempt by Wester Hailes to get town centre status. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and it's vital we get this right."