The 3,300-home Great Western Park estate was initially granted planning permission in 2008 with a new GP surgery included.
The planning permission for the new surgery dates back about 10 years but there have been repeated delays.
Now calls have been made to address the lack of GP provision in the area with Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber branding the shortage as a ‘big issue’.
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Thames Valley police commissioner Matthew Barber (Image: Contributed)
He said: “My own family have had plenty of issues in recent months in getting access to a GP and getting access to the operations that are needed.
“Just even getting a date for the operation for some things.
“We know the NHS is a really big issue on the lists for many people’s political priorities.
“But it is often access to the local GP, certainly in Didcot, Wallingford, and Wantage; it is just the failure to build a new facility.
“This is one of those things that doesn’t have much to do with the medical side of the NHS or the funding but has to do with the bureaucracy.”
Didcot West county councillor Ian Snowdon launched a petition calling for swift action after the previous developer Assura pulled out last year, and it quickly attracted more than 2,000 signatures online.
Woodlands Medical Centre has now appointed London-based Apsley Henley Med Ltd as the new developer for the long-awaited project.
Now, the latest positive step has been taken after housing developers Taylor Wimpey transferred developer contributions for the scheme and healthcare site to Vale of White Horse District Council.
About £791,000 in developer contributions was pledged for the new surgery in 2016.
Mr Barber said: “If you take Great Western Park, the developers have provided the land and the money they were required by the planning system to build the surgery, and yet we have had years of waiting for NHS England and its various other partner agencies to actually get their act together to work on the commissioning to get it designed, to get the planning permission, and to get the thing built,
“We thought we were almost there, but NHS England pulled the rug out again, and we almost start from scratch.
“It is a huge frustration for people who moved into a development 15 years ago to have everything in theory lined up – which doctors are going to take it, they have got an expansion plan, and we have got the money from the developers.
“So that is where I think we need this root-and-branch review of some of the bureaucracies, rip out some of the red tape that exists, and that does take a little bit of bravery.
“We need to be really brave, and we just need to bash heads together for the people of Didcot.”
Olly Glover, MP for Didcot and Wantage, has also repeatedly pressed for updates on the delayed scheme.
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