Cleobury Mortimer awaiting offers to build medical practice

Parish councillors in a south Shropshire town are still awaiting offers from developers to build a long awaited £1 million medical practice. Shropshire County Primary Care Trust agreed to fund the project last week.

Campaigners in Cleobury Mortimer have been calling for a new surgery to replace their existing cramped facilities at Pinkham.

Matt Sheehan, clerk of Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council, said healthcare developers Matrix Medical had yet to submit a bid for land at the former Muller England site, which has been provisionally earmarked for the new surgery and is owned by the parish council.

Mr Sheehan said until a bid was made, the project could not move forward. Members of Cleobury Patients' Voice have already claimed a site needs to be secured to guarantee the future of the project.

Mr Sheehan said: "The parish council is fully committed to providing a site for a new medical centre, but we are still awaiting offers for the land."

Ashley Seymour, from Matrix Medical, said discussions were still ongoing with the parish council.

Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Bovis Homes, which is building almost 100 homes next to the planned medical centre site, had also made a bid for the land. But a meeting of the parish council on Monday was told the bid could not be accepted as it made no mention of providing the nearby JAG Glazing site as an alternative base for medical facilities.