Councillors and members of the public have welcomed the extension of a medical centre despite concerns over parking space loss.

Planning permission has been granted for a single storey extension to Long Furlong Medical Centre, Abingdon, to provide three additional consultation rooms and one admin room.

The approval comes just one month after Abingdon’s Marcham Road Health Centre was granted permission to extend its premises to accommodate eight additional consultation rooms for general practice examinations.

READ MORE: Abingdon health centre extension granted amid GP crisis

County councillor for Abingdon South Neil Fawcett said: “I’m delighted that this extension has been approved.

“Local Lib Dem councillors continue to push for expanded primary care capacity to support the new developments, so it is good to see this expansion moving ahead.”

Echoing Mr Fawcett, county councillor for Abingdon North, Nathan Ley said: “At a time when GP numbers are falling and health services are being run into the ground nationally by the central government, I’m glad this application was approved.

“I’m fully supportive of Long Furlough Surgery wanting to provide greater capacity locally.”

The proposals received overwhelming support from the public, with dozens of householders adding positive comments to the application, as well as signing a petition to bolster the likelihood of the proposals going ahead.

David Cameron-Young, a Warburtons delivery driver who lives with his wife just two minutes’ walk from the surgery, said: “We rarely have issues getting appointments because we’re type 2 diabetic, so the doctors make appointments for us.

“But giving the surgery extra space would be good because they can fit more people in, which can’t be a bad thing.

“Our son has actually just moved back down here from up north and the surgery said they don’t have any spaces.

“He used to be a patient there so we’d like to get him back in soon; perhaps this new extension will help.

“The only issues I can see would be around parking. There is a community centre down the road with a big car park, so most people will be okay using that.

“It just may be that older or disabled people would have trouble if they couldn’t park at the surgery site.”

Others have shared Mr Cameron-Young’s concerns about parking space loss.

Lisa Frith, from Abingdon, said: “It’s probably a good idea to build the extension, they do need extra rooms. But I do believe they will be creating these extra rooms by taking away the car park, which means we’ll have nowhere to park when we need an appointment.”

Other users of the surgery believe there won’t be enough doctors to fill the new consultation rooms.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1