Polegate & Willingdon medical centre project moves to next stage

A project to build a medical centre in Willingdon will move ahead to the next stage.

Wealden District Council’s cabinet agreed to release funds to develop a planning application connected to the Polegate & Willingdon Medical Centre project.

Cabinet members heard how council will seek permission to build the facility within the Hindsland site — a former playing field in Eastbourne Road, which has already has outline planning permission for a medical centre and a 180-home housing development.

Cllr Kelvin Williams, the council’s cabinet member for public health and asset management, said: “Polegate and Willingdon desperately needs a new medical facility. It has been very clearly on the cards for some time.”

He added: “Whilst it is not our statutory responsibility, we have … got funds. We have CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) money and we’ve also got revenue money. For me — and I think for the council as part of our overall strategy in terms of the wellbeing of our residents — I think this is an essential part of what we are doing.