FI15733

Request

1. Please list all the GP practices that have received planning approval for either improvements to their building, or approval for a new build, since 1 April 2015;

2. How many GP practices have you awarded Section 106 or Community Infrastructure Levy funding to since 1 April 2015, and how much that funding was worth.

Response

1. This information is available via an advanced search of the planning portal at https://publicaccess.dover.gov.uk/online-applications/search.do?action=advanced.  The Council does not log GP surgeries any differently to other applications, so for alterations to a surgery, you can put surgery in the address field. For the erection of a GP surgery, you can do that in the description. You can also specify a date range for the information you are searching for.

2. New legislation came into effect from 01/09/2019 (The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) 2019) and required the Council to publish an “Infrastructure Funding Statement” (IFS) annually before 31st December. Requirements under this legislation changed the way the Council reported on its S106 finances in the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) resulting in a more detailed approach to reporting than was required in the AMR. 

Therefore, S106 contributions received prior to 2019/20 are recorded in the AMR, whereas contributions received since 2019/20 are recorded in the IFS.  To view the reports for further detail on the S106 contributions for NHS ICB received, please visit our website here for the AMR, or here for the IFS. 

The data for the S106 contribution transactions for 2024/25 financial year is currently unavailable and will be published by the end of 2025 within the Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS), as required by legislation. 

With regards to the delivery of health services through GP provision, the NHS ICB (Integrated Care Board) have the statutory function to determine which S106 obligations are sought on each planning application to meet the healthcare needs of occupants of the development. Although it is negotiated as part of the planning application stages through Dover District Council (DDC), the details of the obligation requirements (i.e. which surgery and financial amount) are identified by the NHS ICB. Following the legal agreement being signed, DDC’s role is to collect the agreed S106 funds at the time they are required (as set out in the S106 legal agreement) and then to transfer them to NHS ICB to spend upon request. They have a legal duty to only spend them in the terms of the specific wording of the S106 agreement they have been collected against. The NHS ICB for Dover District is NHS Kent and Medway, for more information please visit their website here. 

Please see below a summary of S106 contributions received for each GP Surgery/Primary Care Network from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2024, which has been collected by the Council on behalf of the NHS/ICB: 

GP Practice	Amount Collected
GP Practices near Church Lane and or Manor Road, Golf Road, Cedars or Balmoral, Deal	£68,326.16
Wingham Surgery to support additional patients which will be generate by the development	£17,274.23
Balmoral Surgery, Walmer	£12,965.57
Ash Surgery, Chilton Place, Ash	£29,731.02
Sandwich Medical Practice	£21,598.64
Deal and Sandwich primary care network	£206,926.98
	£356,822.60