GPs at Didcot's largest health centre practice have abandoned plans to move to the town centre.

Instead, they want to redevelop Didcot Health Centre in Britwell Road, with a new health centre -- costing nearly £2m -- which would include the site of the ambulance station next door.

The existing cramped centre was built 30 years ago, when four GPs served 10,000 patients. If the scheme goes ahead, the new Didcot Health Centre -- which has nine doctors and two more in training, serving more than 16,500 patients -- would be one of the largest in the county.

Dr David Ebbs, who is responsible for the new Didcot Health Centre project, said: "We're disappointed not to be moving to the proposed Orchard Centre redevelopment in the town centre.

"But because of proposals to re-organise the ambulance service across the county, the larger site would provide an opportunity to build a new health centre with more consulting rooms, treatment rooms and services."

There would also be more than 70 parking places on the one-acre Britwell Road site, compared with 30 at the Didcot Health Centre, and 15 at its satellite Asbury Health Centre at Ladygrove, which would be closed if the new centre is built.

The decision not to move followed lengthy negotiations with South Oxfordshire District Council over the positioning of the health centre on what Dr Ebbs described as an "awkward quarter-acre sloping site" near the junction with Broadway and High Street.

Dr Ebbs said an access road for lorries and delivery vehicles for the new shops would have made it unsafe for patients.

He said it was clear some patients were unhappy at the prospect of moving to the Orchard Centre, despite being able to combine shopping with their check-up.

Initial comments from the practice patients' group suggested building a new centre in Britwell Road would be welcomed.

Details will be outlined at the annual meeting of the patient participation group at Didcot Health Centre on Thursday, May 15, starting at 7.45pm.