Council planning chiefs have given the go-ahead for Hereford’s new medical centre despite heavy criticism of its monolithic design.
The new building will have 30,677 sq ft of floorspace over three floors and will house the Greyfriars, Moorfield House, Aylestone Hill, Sarum House and King Street GP surgeries.
The planning committee agreed the building was needed but councillor Anthony Powers said the plans would do nothing to ‘reduce the horror’ of visitors as they arrive and leave the city by train.
He said the townscape near the station currently resembles his recollection of 1980s Berlin.
“It’s not just disappointing and a missed opportunity it’s actually contrary to policy,” he said.
“Local planning authorities should seek to promote or reinforce local distinctiveness.
“If the local distinctiveness here we are reinforcing is Morrisons and the Royal Mail building then we might want to do better than that.”
Councillor Bruce Baker said he was totally in favour of the medical centre which will have 31 consulting rooms and 11 treatment rooms, plus 92 parking places and 14 cycle stands.
“We’ve heard that the design isn’t up to scratch. Well, it’s a doctor’s surgery at the end of the day,” he said.
“The Victorians used to spend loads of money in building their stations with chimney pots all over the place but it’s not really practical for a building that is going to be used for these purposes.”
Councillor Liz Harvey said she was concerned about how large the catchment areas are for the current surgeries and how far patients would need to travel to access the new medical centre.
She also criticised the ‘Cubism type structure’ and felt it was an opportunity lost by the council to make it an attractive building to be proud of.
Councillor Tony Johnson said he understood the design concerns but said it provided a functional use that GPs needed.
He said: “We should welcome this opportunity. It may not be the most attractive building in the world but then people don’t come to Hereford because it’s the most attractive city either.”
Councillor Terry James said the nearby railway station was ‘one of the jewels of the crown of Hereford’ but would not be affected by the new surgery building.
“It is a beautiful building, but this particular situation of the surgery does not detract from it.
“It’s not in front of it. It’s someway a distance to the side of it.”
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