Care board criticised as councillor warns 'clock is ticking' for new healthcare facilities in Leighton Buzzard
A councillor has warned “the clock is ticking” on allocated health facility funding for Leighton Buzzard, labelling it “dreadful considering the housing growth”.
Liberal Democrat Leighton Linslade North councillor David Bligh claimed the attitude of the Central East integrated care board (ICB) “is to kick this down the road” because “it doesn’t intend to do anything for the town”.
A report containing thestatus of Section 106 developer funding designated for healthcare facilities from the Clipstone Park and Chamberlains Barn developments was presented to Central Bedfordshire Council’s social care, health and housing overview and scrutiny committee.
CBC’s interim chief solicitor and monitoring officer Kim Sawyer told the committee: “We’ve been working collaboratively with the ICB to see whether medical facilities are provided within the community building at Clipstone Park, and we’ll be pushing hard for a decision.”
Liberal Democrat Leighton Linslade North councillor David Bligh suggested the council is “entirely reliant on the ICB”, saying: “Its attitude is to kick this down the road.
“Given what it’s enabling in Bedford and Milton Keynes, it had no intention of doing this. I’m concerned the clock is ticking on the Section 106 opportunity, as they all have time limits on them.
“We’re no nearer to getting anything done, and I don’t believe the ICB intends to do anything for Leighton Buzzard. That’s dreadful considering the amount of housing growth and that there’s some money available. We need to lean on them.”
Ms Sawyer replied: “We’ve got until 2030 to spend the Section 106 funding.
“We can’t hold the ICB to account. It’s a question of us giving them a deadline by which to make a decision, and us to decide how we move forward. At the point the decision is made about what we’re providing, then we can begin the conversation with local groups.”
Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Steve Owen noted from the report that no Section 106 monies were negotiated from the Chamberlains Barn developments. “That’s scandalous,” he said.
“The Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group in its day should have led the bid for that money. Our planning officers have surely got a responsibility here to ensure, if the ICB isn’t bidding for substantial amounts of money from these developments, that it does. We’re culpable in that.
“The ICB is operating with taxpayer money. We need to take this out of secrecy and have some transparency. We’re getting very close to the point where we need a motion that says ‘we’ve no confidence in the ICB’ on a full council meeting agenda.”
Council leader and Independent Potton councillor Adam Zerny explained: “Like it or not, we cannot tell the ICB what to do.
“We can exert as much pressure as we want to and highlight where we think it should do more.But the response comes back the same, as it has very limited funds.
“The direction of this finance comes from the government. We’ve lobbied hard for facilities to come to this area and are waiting for the government to decide whether funding is there for us.”
The committee agreed the executive should set a six-month deadline around whether the ICB wishes to proceed with a health facility at Clipstone Park, and for CBC to negotiate with the primary care network about health provision in Leighton Buzzard.