THE man with responsibility for Whitehill & Bordon in East Hampshire District Council’s cabinet has sought to reassure a former member of the council about future health facilities in the town.

Trevor Maroney, a Liberal Democrat who lives in Liphook, posed three written questions to Conservative councillor Ferris Cowper under the public questions item on the agenda for the full council meeting on January 17.

Referring to an article in the Bordon Herald on December 27, in which the NHS South Eastern Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group announced that its recent bid for capital funding for Whitehill & Bordon’s new health hub had been rejected by NHS England, Mr Maroney said: “This has serious implications as the health hub forms an integral part of Bordon’s new town centre and its status as a Healthy New Town.

“Bearing in mind that Liphook’s new medical centre still hasn’t been built, ten years after receiving planning permission, due to a similar lack of NHS funding, I would like to know what action does East Hampshire District Council now plan to take to minimise the impact the lack of NHS funding will have on completing work on building the new town centre.”

In his written reply, Cllr Cowper said the failure of the NHS funding bid would not affect the viability of the health hub: “The bid by the clinical commissioning group was never assumed to be successful in any of the financial planning for the new state-of-the-art health hub. In essence, the NHS financial contribution to the new healthcare facilities for the town was assumed to be, and will be, the same as it is today. Outline financial planning shows the new health hub to be fully funded.”

Answering Mr Maroney’s second question, about whether the council had any financial stake in the building and running of the centre, Cllr Cowper said: “The council has no pecuniary interest in the health hub. The development is managed by the Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company under contract with the Ministry of Defence.”

But he did not rule out the possibility of indirect council involvement through projects that could help turn the centre plans into reality: “In the event that an investment opportunity presented itself that facilitates the health hub, is attractive to residents of the town and offers value for money to the residents of the district, obviously we would consider such a proposition.”

Mr Maroney’s final question asked whether East Hampshire District Council had a financial interest in the Chase Community Hospital, and whether it would support a proposal for this to be equipped and converted for use as the new Whitehill & Bordon Health Hub, seeing as the town’s population was rising, the NHS funding bid had been turned down and there was interest in using Chase’s facilities from the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford and some GP practices in Surrey.

He added: “It would make more sense to review the business case for keeping the Chase Hospital open.”

Cllr Cowper replied: “The council has no pecuniary interest in the Chase Hospital. Although the council has always said that retaining the Chase Hospital is Plan A, this does not imply a pecuniary interest in the Chase Hospital.

“The council’s alternative strategy is already public and it assumes that the Chase Hospital will be unable to meet the needs of a town that will soon double in size. Obviously, with no new money from the NHS, then this is a reasonable – albeit disappointing – assumption.

“The council’s Plan B – which is gaining traction rapidly as the prospect of an NHS-based solution recedes – is to encourage the development of a new health hub with state-of-the-art facilities.”