Next Steps Laid Out For Sussex Medical Centre Project

A decision on the next stage of a project to build a medical centre in Willingdon is set to be made by Wealden council leaders next week.

On Wednesday (July 8), Wealden District Council’s cabinet is due to decide whether to release funds in connection with the Polegate and Willingdon Medical Centre project.

If approved, the funding would be used to develop a reserved matters planning application seeking permission to build out the facility within the Hindsland site — a former playing field in Eastbourne Road, which has outline planning permission for both a medical centre and a 180-home housing development.

The application itself is expected to be submitted and determined this coming autumn. If the application is successful, the council says on-site works could begin in 2026, with the facility potentially fully operational by early 2028.

Within the report a council spokesman said:

“The Polegate and Willingdon Medical Centre is a key strategic development that addresses the longstanding need for improved primary care capacity in this part of the district.

“It supports multiple priorities within the Council Strategy, including promoting health and wellbeing, reducing inequalities in access to services, enhancing sustainability, and delivering new infrastructure to support future growth.

“The project will deliver a purpose-built, modern facility designed in line with NHS Health Building Notes and Technical Memoranda, ensuring it is inclusive, sustainable, and resilient.

“It will provide capacity for two GP practices and supporting services, helping to reduce waiting times for local residents and enabling integrated community health care delivery.”

The report said the Hindsland site was selected in June 2025 following an options appraisal exercise, which also looked into delivering the centre as part of the neighbouring Mornings Mill site.

Officers said the council ownership of the land, which it bought as part of an auction held in December last year, had been a factor in favour of the site.

They say the location also saw support from local GPs and the Sussex Integrated Care Board.

Costs for the project appear not to have been made public at this stage, although officers say an estimated budget and high-level financial appraisal were shared with cabinet members as part of an exempt report considered in June.

The costs of developing and submitting the reserved matters planning application are also not included within the publicly-available reports. The public report notes how this figure is included within the full meeting papers, but are exempt from publication as they relate to “financial or business affairs”.

The report said the funding will be drawn from the council’s Capital Investment Reserve, which contained £26,639 as of 31 March 2024.

A more recent figure is unavailable at time of publication, as the council’s statement of accounts for 2024/25 are currently overdue.

The council had been required to publish these accounts by July 1, but says it has been unable to do so “due to a number of reasons, including a delay in information being received from external parties, staff resources and additional accounting adjustments required as a result of a new accounting standard.”

The public report makes further reference to the exempt papers elsewhere. It says the exempt papers include an Economic Impact Report, which “confirms that the Polegate and Willingdon Medical Centre project offers strong economic and social returns.”

According to officers, this exempt report sets out how the jobs created by the new medical centre would be expected to result in a net economic output of approximately £7.1 million Gross Value Added (GVA) over a 30-year appraisal period.

Officers say the new facility would also contribute to an estimated £6.25 million in NHS savings over the same period and also incorporate carbon reduction measures estimated to generate a present value saving of over £426,000.

When these factors are combined, officers say, the exempt report indicates that the anticipated economic benefits are more than the costs of the project.