HEALTH chiefs have deferred the multi-million £ for a new medical centre on the site of the former Warrington Baths.
NHS Warrington – the Primary Care Trust – admitted the project had been put on hold after a Warrington-Worldwide reader commented on the matter in yesterday’s edition.
In fact, the reader claimed the scheme had been “cancelled.”
But the PCT says that to date, no decision has been made to cancel the project.
In a statement, NHS Warrington said: “The PCT is facing a significant financial challenge and as such is implementing a robust strategic recovery plan which will focus the attention on the whole local NHS system.
“Work has already commenced on re-negotiation of all our contracts and we will be working with providers to affect changes across the local health economy to look at how we can make changes which will provide better value for money, whilst maintaining quality of services.
“In terms of new developments, such as the new Garven Place, these will be considered as part of the strategic recovery plan.
“To date no decision has been made to cancel the project, however, the decision to proceed with the project has been deferred whilst we fully understand how we address the financial challenge we are facing.
“As an organisation we will continue to focus our attention on ensuring that we delivery high quality services to the people of Warrington, in addition to ensuring that we are achieving excellent value for money.”
The project first arose from a “land swap” arrangement between the PCT and the borough council, in which the council-owned baths site was exchanged for the PCT-owned site of the existing Garven Place health clinic.
A new health centre would be built on the baths site while the council re-developed the Garven Place site with housing, shops and restaurants, etc.
Council chiefs have since come up with a wider scheme, named “Golden Gardens” in which the whole of the Bank Park area is revamped with the help of funding from the private sector.
This scheme has been held up by the economic situation and, as yet, no private sector partner has been found.
But the council insists the scheme is still “on course” and says its aim is to be ready to make an early start when the economic situation improves.
