Plans to build a new GP surgery and ‘health hub’ have been scrapped, the NHS has confirmed – in a move branded a ‘bad step’ by council leaders.

The health hub and GP Centre had been proposed for a council-owned site on Reform Road in Maidenhead. But with the land now up for sale, Frimley Integrated Care Board has confirmed it won’t be going ahead with the plans.

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council leader Simon Werner said there was a ‘desperate’ need for new GP surgeries in the town. He said: “Our information is the NHS isn’t going ahead with the health hub and I think it’s a really bad step by the health authority.

"With all the building that’s going on in Maidenhead, with all the flats, we’re desperate that we need more GPs in Maidenhead.”

A spokesperson for the care board said the plans were drawn up before the covid pandemic. But they said plans were put on pause during the pandemic then scrapped because of rising construction costs and interest rates.

The spokesperson added that Frimley ICB doesn’t directly employ GPs but does support primary care services which they said are ‘facing unprecedented demand pressures at the present time’.

The spokesperson also said the Frimely Integrated Care System is ‘delivering more appointments in the primary care system than ever before’.

They said 84 per cent of patient appointments were on the same day as booking, and 90 per cent were within 14 days in July this year. The spokesperson added this put Frimley ‘among the top performers nationally’.

Councillor Werner’s comments came at a meeting of council leaders on Wednesday, October 2, where they approved the sale of several properties on Reform Road for £3.5 million.

The properties are 11 buildings currently let by the council on long ground leases, which earn the council some £184,000 a year in rent. But council plans say their value is ‘unlikely to grow’ without investment, and selling them is a better option.

The Royal Borough council’s cabinet committee – its leading group of councillors – approved the sale to software firm Tallyspace on October 2.

Clyde House, the Project Centre and car park at the site of the demolished Waldeck House – where the health hub had been proposed – is being marketed separately by the council.

Maidenhead Gurdwara and the Jubilee Community Church have expressed a joint interest in buying the site together so that they can accommodate their congregations.

Councillor Adam Bermange – responsible for property – told speakers from the church and gurdwara the council would ‘consider all bids on the redevelopment site carefully’.