Surgeries could be bought to aid new centre plans

Two doctors' surgeries could be bought by a council as part of wider plans to build a new medical centre in an East Sussex town.

Rother District Council will decide on Monday whether to proceed with plans to purchase the freeholds of the Old Town Surgery and the Little Common Surgery in Bexhill.

A report from council officers states that the plans come as part of a deal to construct a new medical centre in Brooklands Road which would be leased back to the NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board.

To achieve this, the council intends to buy the two surgeries' properties and immediately lease them back to the GP partners, the Local Democracy Reporting Service says.

According to the report the project could not proceed without this arrangement.

The council said the arrangement would result in a financial return over the term of the leases, though the Little Common purchase would make a loss in isolation.

A report to the council's cabinet says the purchase price of both properties would be less than the assessed market value.

The Little Common surgery would eventually relocate to the new facility, while the Old Town surgery would remain in place indefinitely - initially on a 25-year lease, the council says.

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