The Mayor of Bedford and the leader of the Lib Dems have clashed over the progress in building GP surgeries in the borough.
Cllr Henry Vann (Lib Dems, De Parys) told the mayor during last week’s Executive Meeting that the progress made was “a real disappointment” and a “real let-down”.
But mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) angrily replied that the previous administration “did nothing” to help GP surgeries.
Ahead of a report updating the Executive of the work carried out on the “improvement to primary care estate” in Great Barford, Kempston, Wixams and Wootton, cllr Vann said: “I’m really disappointed by the report… in terms of what has been said to resident groups and what has been said to councillors and parishes.
“The £9 million added by Full Council to the capital programme, at the moment, seems to have gone nowhere.
“It’s a real disappointment, a real let-down because if you are building projects based on an ICB [integrated care board] top-down model then there is nothing to stop work happening quicker, so I really urge you to really start getting a move on with this project.”
Mayor Wootton said: “We can look along the years of failure of the previous administration of doing nothing and putting nothing in the budget at all and doing nothing to help those doctors’ surgeries.
“We were determined to help those doctors’ surgeries and we are determined to do stuff.
“The fact we’ve been held up by the NHS and we are working our way through their system, we are doing our best for our residents.
“And the inference that we have here from you that we are not, it’s not a pleasant thing to come to Executive with.”
Councillor Vann said: “I think the buck stops with the administration and I’m really disappointed that you’d react in such an angry way to a statement when you’re being challenged to deliver on the promises to residents.
“That is all I’m doing, I’m representing the emails I’ve had from residents so I don’t think from that chair, and that position, to attack in that way is not really on and I’m a bit disappointed by that,” he said.
Mayor Wootton said he was “sorry” that cllr Vann was disappointed.
The Executive was told a feasibility study is considering two options for Great Barford, which are the use of the old school building, or carry out a rebuild.
The Bedfordshire Police site at Halsey Road, Kempston is being investigated as the site for the Kempston multi-speciality community care centre.
Councillor Martin Towler (Conservative, Riseley), the portfolio holder for neighbourhoods & communities: health and wellbeing, said discussions between Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council have been held to establish how the Wixams GP Surgery project can be delivered.
He added that the challenge for Wootton is that the surgery is not on the ICB’s priority list.
“The council are continuing to put pressure on the ICB to make it a priority given the need for development,” he said.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
