South Hams District Council has approved plans to develop a new health and wellbeing centre in Dartmouth.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust can go ahead with the approval process and legal agreements to move the scheme from planning into the building phase. The final sign off by the Trust Board, NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, GPs and South Hams District Council is planned for January 2021. With the approvals in place, work could start on site as early as February next year. The Trust will manage the delivery of the building with funding from the Council. The completed building will be owned by the Council and leased to the NHS.

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The £4.7 million centre is to be built on part of the land currently used as an overflow for the park and ride at the top of town. It will also house Dartmouth Medical Practice, Dartmouth Caring, and other services such as a retail pharmacy along-side a wide range of services currently offered by the Trust at Dartmouth Clinic, which was re-purposed as an interim health and wellbeing centre in 2017. The scheme also includes hardstanding car-parking spaces for the Council, which will ensure that any impact on the capacity of the park and ride, and parking for the town, is kept to an absolute minimum.

Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, which is leading the partnership project, said: "We are delighted to have reached this significant and long-awaited milestone. This new centre will bring health and wellbeing services under one roof, for the benefit of the people of Dartmouth and surrounding areas. The purpose-designed centre will give local GPs the facilities they need to support the service into the future, and enable close working relationships and joined up care services with our community teams and voluntary sector partners."