18 October 2011
MP for The Cotswolds, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, last week (13 October) organised a meeting between representatives of Bourton-on-the-Water Parish Council, including Chairman Cllr Brian Sumner, Cllr Tim Faulkner, Mark Ryder, and Nigel Randall and Gloucestershire County Cllr David Thorpe, and the Rt. Hon. Simon Burns MP, Minister of State at the Department for Health responsible for NHS estates, along with representatives from the Strategic Health Authority and Gloucestershire PCT to discuss the future of Moore Cottage Hospital in Bourton-on-the-Water.
When the new hospital in Moreton-in-Marsh hospital opens Moore Cottage hospital will close and Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust are likely to sell the Moore Cottage Hospital building. The Parish Council’s Big Community Offer plan is to then sell the Parish Council’s current offices and purchase the hospital site to turn it into a Community Centre, which would host the Parish Council, the Youth Centre, and the library and police station. These are vital services for Bourton-on-the-Water which it might lose in the near future.
Funding for such a purchase would come from the Parish Council’s sale of its offices along with funding from Gloucestershire County Council, as a community offer of help of half the proceeds of the possible sale of the Youth Centre.
The meeting between the Health Minister and the Parish Council allowed both parties to discuss the Parish Council’s wish to acquire the hospital for a lower price than that recommended by the District Valuer. The basis for this is that as a historic building, under NHS Estate Code guidelines, it would be possible for the hospital to be sold at a discount to market value to reflect the wider community benefit that would result from the purchase by the Parish Council.
Following the meeting Mr Clifton-Brown commented: “I was delighted to be able to arrange a meeting between Bourton-on-the-Water Parish Council and the Health Minister to discuss this very important local matter.”
“I was extremely impressed by the presentation given by the Parish Council, and with their innovative ideas. I am sure that the Minister will have paid close attention to their arguments.”
“The Parish Council’s Big Community Offer could become a beacon of the Government’s Big Society agenda and I hope that the Department for Health will be able to provide the Parish Council with the assistance they require.“
The Minister confirmed that, in his view, the scheme fully met the community interest criteria to allow a discount to be applied and that if it was less that £250,000 the NHS Estate Code guidelines state that the local Primary Care Trust can sign it off without referring it back to the Department of Health.
Mr Clifton-Brown said: “This may be the golden nugget that the Parish Council need to make their scheme work.“
When the new hospital in Moreton-in-Marsh hospital opens Moore Cottage hospital will close and Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust are likely to sell the Moore Cottage Hospital building. The Parish Council’s Big Community Offer plan is to then sell the Parish Council’s current offices and purchase the hospital site to turn it into a Community Centre, which would host the Parish Council, the Youth Centre, and the library and police station. These are vital services for Bourton-on-the-Water which it might lose in the near future.
Funding for such a purchase would come from the Parish Council’s sale of its offices along with funding from Gloucestershire County Council, as a community offer of help of half the proceeds of the possible sale of the Youth Centre.
The meeting between the Health Minister and the Parish Council allowed both parties to discuss the Parish Council’s wish to acquire the hospital for a lower price than that recommended by the District Valuer. The basis for this is that as a historic building, under NHS Estate Code guidelines, it would be possible for the hospital to be sold at a discount to market value to reflect the wider community benefit that would result from the purchase by the Parish Council.
Following the meeting Mr Clifton-Brown commented: “I was delighted to be able to arrange a meeting between Bourton-on-the-Water Parish Council and the Health Minister to discuss this very important local matter.”
“I was extremely impressed by the presentation given by the Parish Council, and with their innovative ideas. I am sure that the Minister will have paid close attention to their arguments.”
“The Parish Council’s Big Community Offer could become a beacon of the Government’s Big Society agenda and I hope that the Department for Health will be able to provide the Parish Council with the assistance they require.“
The Minister confirmed that, in his view, the scheme fully met the community interest criteria to allow a discount to be applied and that if it was less that £250,000 the NHS Estate Code guidelines state that the local Primary Care Trust can sign it off without referring it back to the Department of Health.
Mr Clifton-Brown said: “This may be the golden nugget that the Parish Council need to make their scheme work.“
