£350,000 health centre planned for Church Stretton

A new £350,000 health and well-being centre could be set up in a south Shropshire town within six months as part of ambitious plans to improve care for the area's ageing population.

The centre has been earmarked for the former mental health clinic in Easthope Road in Church Stretton.

Officials at Church Stretton Health and Social Care Partnership now face a race against time to pull together a bid for major funding in the next 10 days.

A deadline of November 1 has been set for applications to be submitted to the Department of Health's social enterprise investment fund.

Grants up to £400,000 are available from the fund, but must be used by March 31 next year, while other funding sources are also being examined.

If the project is successful, the new centre would be strongly linked with the neighbouring Mayfair Community Centre, which already provides care for vulnerable people in the community.

Partnership officials have already launched three separate schemes to care for people in the community, and hope to use the new centre as a focal point.

Bob Welch, a member of the partnership steering committee, said: "The building we have identified is only partially used and has been declared superfluous to primary care trust requirements. We think it would be the ideal site for our new health and social well-being centre.

"It can bring together health care from the nearby medical practice and social care from the Mayfair Centre. We could combine receptions, facilities and extend cafe areas and use it as a multi-purpose venue."