Fix your fence -again!

The fence surrounding the abandoned medical centre site is broken once again. This time a large section was blown down during the gales a few weeks ago. I gave them some time to fix it but it's been five weeks now. This morning I rang the NHS property department and asked them to fix it as it's clearly not bring monitored. Let's hope the site is secured once again.

What will happen to the scrapped Medical Centre land?

We know the Medical Centre is not going ahead and Battle councillors have secured a consultation for the £1.5 million Section 106 money, but what's happening to the land left behind?

This land belongs to the soon to be defunct Primary Care Trust (PCT).  Leader of the Council Jo Lovelock has asked Alok Sharma MP to ensure the proceeds from the sale of this land are re-invested in the local community but we have yet to have a reply.

Will the money vanish into the Government coffers or will it be passed to the new Core Commissioning Groups (CCG's) to improve local health provision?

Battle 106 Consultation Launches 16 April - £1.5 Million For Battle Community

I am so pleased to be able to announce the timetable of the Battle 106 consultation.  Battle councillors have been working hard with Reading Borough Council for the past year paving the way for a meaningful consultation with residents about how this money should be spent.  Because of Labour Battle councillors Chris Maskell, Gul Khan and me the community will have a say in how £1.5 million is spent in the local area!

The money became available because the Primary Care Trust withdrew from the plans to build a medical centre on the former Battle Hospital site, now West Village.  You can read more about the history here:

February 2013 - Battle 106 - Sharma has missed the point entirely  
Jan 2013 - Medical Centre and 106 Funding Update
December 2011 - Battle medical centre victim of NHS cutbacks 

We have had several meetings over the last few weeks to design the consultation, agree the area being consulted and the questions being asked.  The consultation plan will go to Cabinet for approval on 18 March (see report here) and, if it's approved, will launch on 16 April.

Launch Event

Tuesday 16 April - Battle Library

11am to 1pm & 3pm to 8pm - to discuss options and a further opportunity to complete the questionnaire.

Residents within the consultation area will receive a paper questionnaire which will also be able to be completed online.  The results of the consultation will determine how the £1.5 million is spent locally.

Improving Local Facilities in the Oxford Road area of West Reading – Consultation 

Press Release 

11/03/2013 RESIDENTS in Battle and the neighbouring area are set to be given an opportunity to have their say on how £1.5 million could be used to improve local facilities.

The money is due to be paid to Reading Borough Council by developers David Wilson Homes as part of the 2006 planning permission to build 434 homes on the site of the former Battle Hospital.

Following consultation with the local community by local councillors in 2006, the proposals included a new health centre building for the Primary Care Trust (PCT) on land that the Trust owns. However, the PCT subsequently decided not to go forward with a new Health Centre in this location. This is due to a number of factors, including the provision of a drop-in surgery in the Broad Street Mall.

The 2006 planning agreement says that in the event of the Health Centre not being built, the developer, now David Wilson Homes, would pay the Council £1.5m as a ‘contribution towards community-related benefits’.

That money is now due to be paid to the local authority and Reading Borough Council is proposing to give residents in the area an opportunity to help inform the decision on how it can be spent to ensure it meets the needs of local people and the community.

Jo Lovelock, Reading Borough Council Leader, said: “It was a big disappointment when the Primary Care Trust decided not to go ahead with the Health Centre. The money must be used on community related benefits so we feel it is very important to talk to the local community about how they think that the money should be spent, especially as it is now seven years since the last consultation. I hope as many people as possible will take part so that the decision about the use of the money can be based on the current views of local residents.”

The 2012 Residents’ Survey and the 2011 'Let’s Talk' consultation show that local residents have identified education, green spaces, transport and health services as their main priorities for improvement. These are also in line with the priorities in the Council’s planning policy for infrastructure provision.

A report proposing the launch of the local consultation will now go before a meeting of Reading Borough Council’s Cabinet on March 18 for endorsement.

A questionnaire will then be distributed in the local area, asking people to identify their priorities for which local facilities need improving. Residents will be asked to take a few minutes to tell the Council their preferences and return the questionnaire to: Improving Local Facilities in Battle and the neighbouring area, Reading Borough Council, Civic Centre, Reading, RG1 7AE.

Alternatively, people will also be able to complete the short questionnaire online at http://www.reading.gov.uk/battlesurvey .

There will also be a drop-in event held at Battle Library (420 Oxford Road) on Tuesday April 16, from 11am to 1pm and from 3pm to 8pm, to discuss options and a further opportunity to complete the questionnaire.

Medical Centre and 106 Funding Update!

 

If you have been reading my blog for some time you would have seen that we found out the Medical Centre was scrapped in my blog piece in December 2011: Battle Site Medical Centre A Victim Of NHS Cutbacks

The fact is has taken until now for Alok Sharma MP to voice his concerns is no surprise to me.  We rarely see him in Battle Ward - I think I have seen him once in nearly three years.  It was a meeting and he turned up as it was ending.

Battle contains areas of great deprivation, areas that should be supported by their MP.  They aren't.  Instead his Government are pushing hardworking families harder and harder with their attack on working benefits.

It has it's problems with prostitution and our MP has done nothing.  Battle cllrs, along with the Oxford Road NAG, have been pushing the Police for action, and recent press has shown this is happening.

Off out now to do a leaflet delivery, working everyday for the residents of Battle, unlike our MP!

'The PCT have confirmed they can no longer provide a medical facility for the Oxford Road community on the former Battle Hospital site (Tesco, West Village) as promised. 

The PCT say that, Conservative led Government cuts means that they cannot afford to take forward the plans for the Battle site and that the health centre is no longer a viable option. Instead they have decided to invest in the Walk in Centre in the Broad Street Mall.  As well as being available to all Reading residents it is our understanding the Centre is expected to take pressure off A&E at the Royal Berks. It has also been suggested the centre is designed to take pressure off our local doctors. However, the Centre is hardly local to Battle ward so it is hard to see how that is supposed to work.

We are deeply disappointed to break this news to you, especially as so many of you helped us campaign successfully, we thought, for a local medical facility.

The profile of the ward has changed since 2005 when we first consulted local people on what benefits they would like to see come from the West Village development. Many resident in Battle Ward today will not have taken part in the 2005 consultation. Residents priorities may have changed since then and as such we believe we need to start again and find out what you would like the money spent on. The figure we are talking about is in the region of £1million plus, this could be used to do an awful lot of good in Battle ward.

In 2005 we campaigned for a medical Centre, that will not happen thanks to our Tory MP Sharma and his Government. In 2013 we have secured £1million pounds plus for our community, the final figure has yet to be agreed with the developer.

We have insisted Reading Borough Council carry out a public consultation before a single penny is spent, they have agreed to do that. Look out for our consultation in the next few weeks.'