Oswestry GP in warning over 600-homes plan for town

Dr Ian Rummens has today voiced fears over the effect the homes would have on medical practices in Oswestry after a planning application for 24 hectares of land between the bypass and Shrewsbury Road – known as the Eastern Gateway – was submitted to Shropshire Council.

The GP, who is secretary of Shropshire Local Medical Committee and a partner at Cambrian Medical Centre in Oswestry, said additional housing would impact on services at a time when they were already under strain.

"Six hundred houses in Oswestry, so that's three to four people on average per house – that's significant, especially for services that are already under a great deal of pressure," he said.

"It's going to mean that people ringing up their surgeries for appointments will find it slightly harder to get one right away."

Earlier this year Dr Rummens said general practice across the country was "in a state of crisis".

He said although the additional homes would not "tip the situation", if GPs in the town retire, go off sick or on maternity, and replacements can not be found that could change.

"Say if you have a practice with four GPs that looks after 10,000 patients that's just about manageable but if GPs do retire and aren't replaced, that will then become unmanageable," he said.

"In at least one of the town's practices, there are partners set to retire in the near future.

"Now these homes could see up to 2,000 additional people in total, that will be an extra 600 to 700 extra patients."

Dr Rummens said overall the situation in general practice was slowly "getting worse".

He said: "In Shropshire even without Future Fit, which has not happened yet but those proposals fill me with dread, there has been a steady drip of work coming to us from hospitals, that's happening anyway."

As well as implications on health services, Dr Rummens also expressed concern about what effect the homes would have on schools and other local services and infrastructure in the town.

Applicants J Ross Developments said the homes would increase the vibrancy and vitality of the town.

The land is part of the proposed sustainable urban development that sits within Shropshire Council's Samdev, the blueprint for future housebuilding in the county.

In its planning application the developer pointed out that Shropshire Council wanted to see 137 new homes on the site by 2020 and an additional 232 by 2025. About 10 per cent of the homes would be affordable housing.