The opening of a £13 million super surgery has been put back until summer 2011 at the earliest due to a legal dispute – amid claims the town’s indoor bowling centre was built ‘in the wrong place’.
Developers Matrix Medical had originally planned to submit a formal planning application for a three-storey practice on Sundorne Road between Shrewsbury Sports Village and the TA Centre at the start of the year, which would replace the existing Albert Road and Mount Pleasant surgeries. But due to a legal wrangle over diverting a footpath on the site, plans are not expected to be submitted until next month.
Mary Herbert, manager of the Mount Pleasant practice, told the Chronicle the bowling centre had been built on a different plot to the original plans, meaning the footpath would now have to be diverted to make way for the new surgery.
It had been hoped the surgery would be ready to open by the end of 2010. But Ashley Seymour, development manager for Matrix Medical, said it would take 18 months to build the centre and added it was unlikely to open until the middle of 2011.
When completed it is hoped the surgery will cater for more than 14,000 people living in the north of Shrewsbury, and will be used by physiotherapists, healthcare visitors, doctors and nurses.
Mrs Herbert said: “The bowling centre was built in the wrong place. It means we have no possibility of moving where we put our building, and the footpath will have to be diverted towards the sports village car park.
