Dave Robertson wants Burntwood Health Centre built without delay

Burntwood has been waiting for a new health centre for far too long. It was supposed to be built this year, but that deadline will be missed.

Staffordshire County Council has not even put in a planning application yet.

I've written to council leader Ian Cooper, asking him to end the delays and deliver this health centre.

Below is the text of that letter.

Dear Ian Cooper,

Thank you for providing me with an update on the progress being made towards opening a new health centre in Burntwood.

For 16 years, residents had to visit their GP in portacabins in the car park of a leisure centre.

The site was closed in March 2024, but there was no replacement and 5,000 patients were distributed to other surgeries. No one agreed with that decision, but we were told that the County Council would have a replacement built and ready to operate by the end of this year.

Given this, people in Burntwood will be extremely disappointed to hear that the Council has not even submitted a planning application for the replacement facility, and it looks very unlikely that planning permission will be submitted until the end of this year at the earliest.

There are also concerns that when it eventually comes, this planning application could face objections from statutory consultees given the impact of the proposed development on the football pitches at the end of Cherry Close.

No one wants unused football pitches to be the reason that we lose out on our health centre. What plans are the Council preparing to avoid the possibility of objections on these grounds?

The potential knock-on effects that a delay in seeing a GP can cause are huge. It can lead to health conditions not being detected early enough and getting far worse unnecessarily.

In our area, staff at the remaining surgeries are doing all they can to support the community, but at some point increased patient rolls cannot be mitigated.

Residents in Burntwood are clear that they want the health centre they were promised. I urge you to ensure that this is delivered without further delay.  

Kind regards,

Dave Robertson MP 

Lichfield, Burntwood and the Villages