The GP crisis on Britain’s new-build estates

12 comments

1. New-build homes are being built without promised [GP surgeries](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-starmer-save-nhs-according-frontline-staff-3272669?ico=in-line_link), putting pressure on local healthcare services that could worsen under Labour’s [plans to ramp up housebuilding](https://inews.co.uk/news/rayner-housing-project-labour-homes-challenge-3186981?srsltid=AfmBOor3Jk8QQahWoEDZfXb3Av8nBq3-fKRBiMSrd_OzN8z3gma0uuC3?ico=in-line_link), doctors and councils have warned.

   The number of patients per GP has increased by more than a third in some parts of England since 2017, as residents move into new developments built without supporting infrastructure.

   Despite pleas from residents, funding for healthcare services from developers is not being spent, according to data shared exclusively with **i**.

   At least 17 councils had more than £1m in unused healthcare funds secured via the planning system in 2023, data obtained via Freedom of Information requests shows.

   Keir Starmer pledged that no new homes would be built without the infrastructure to match them – but councils told **i** they already have [higher housebuilding targets](https://inews.co.uk/news/tory-councils-revolt-labour-anti-nimby-housebuilding-3296167?ico=in-line_link) to meet, even though changes to the planning system to match this have not yet been made.

   The Government has pledged to [build 1.5 million new homes](https://inews.co.uk/news/reeves-budget-boost-labour-homes-pledge-3279281?ico=in-line_link) within five years. It rejected claims that this ambitious target risks exacerbating the country’s GP crisis, arguing it has been clear with developers that new homes must be built alongside infrastructure – including surgeries.

   South Tyneside in Tyne and Wear has had the biggest jump in patients per GP since 2017, from 1,642 to 2,408 – a 47 per cent surge, according to **i** analysis of NHS and House of Commons Library data.

   Some 1,850 homes have been built there during the same period, official data show.

   Residents recently blocked controversial plans for 1,200 homes on green belt land south of Fellgate in Tyne and Wear but told **i** they were worried about more housebuilding to come under Labour.

2. Large new build develop near me. Promised with a medical centre, children’s play park and cafe/bar/pub.

   Once all the houses are built the developer turns round and says they don’t actually have the money for any of that and will need to squeeze in a few more houses. I suspect this is common. Proving NIMBY’s right isn’t the way to make house building easier. Make building companies put up the promised infrastructure BEFORE they’re allowed to start marketing the new builds to buyers.

3. Solution; local residents aren’t given the option/if/ they want something to be built, but they can choose/who/ does it.

4. I think I’ve discovered a use for our derelict high streets.

5. They’re being built without consent

6. I got downvoted to hell and back for saying exactly this a while ago on another sub. Several new estates have been built in my local area and existing infrastructure just isn’t there to support such a huge influx of people. It isn’t just GPs that are overwhelmed. Schools are oversubscribed, bus services often can’t stop because they don’t have room onboard and the level of cars on the road causes gridlock in the mornings. If you bring any of this up you’ll be branded a NIMBY, but you can’t just throw up housing with no amenities to support residents

7. I’ll give you all a counterpoint example.

   My family and some associates were in the process of trying to gain planning permission for a development on farmland that had already been allocated as ‘strategic’ for development by the council.

   As we went through the process, there were understandably objections. By far the biggest objection was the pressure on local services and GP appointments in particular.

   So, we listened. We had links to the village and wanted some kind of improvement. We submitted a revised plan (the initial plan had not been approved or denied at this stage but for reasons I won’t explain had entered a kind of bureaucratic limbo that made applying again easier). We decided to build a new GP surgery on part of the site.

   The council planners said no. It wasn’t ‘in accordance with policy’. Some document somewhere told them that the village had a population of X and a GP availability of Y, and so there was never going to be an approval of more capacity until the population had grown.

   So the new surgery didn’t happen.

   Nor did the footpath linking the site to the rest of the village (policy was not to allow anything the council would have to pay to maintain, basically). Nor did the self-build plots we had hoped to create (again, not policy).

   It’s a long story with many sadly amusing twists. In the end we just decided to follow the identikit bland British estate model to get it through and it worked. Then we were so fed up of the whole saga we sold it to one of the big developers, who promptly applied for increased density (they got a little).

   The bureaucratic hurdles that sometimes get put in front of people is a major reason we don’t get nice stuff. It’s not just about economics – a GP surgery is an asset you can rent out and sell just like a house.

8. It’s actually quite insidious that there’s a picture of Angela Rayner on this article. The previous Tory government had a target of 1 million new homes in 5 years. That’s less than Labour’s target of 1.5 million, but still enough to generate the same problem without proper planning. Indeed, complaints about the lack of amenities on new-build estates *long* pre-date this current government. But a picture of Rayner next to this headline creates an association in people’s minds even before they’ve opened the article, which most are unlikely to do anyway.

9. Build the houses, the services will follow. What’s prevented us building in part is this incessant need to tick a billion boxes before breaking ground. Yes, this means initially some areas will begin without all the usual services – but in terms of medicine virtual GP exists. Want to know a trick that improves a nations health? Warm and dry shelter.

10. Same is happening where I live. Loads of house building without any supporting infrastructure.

11. Building new houses doesn’t cause new humans to spontaneously appear from thin air. They have moved from somewhere.

    Can’t we reallocate money from their previous GP surgery to their new one?

12. Hmm the other week someone was telling me that it was more important to build houses and that ensuring they have infrastructure for residents was unimportant. I guess that isn’t working out.