Tesco health-centre rental too expensive for trust

OLDHAM Primary Care Trust has pulled out of negotiations with Tesco for a health centre above the planned store at Greenfield.

Charges proposed by the supermarket giant make the scheme as it stands, unaffordable, bosses say.

But while residents have expressed disappointment, they have been reassured by the PCT that it is considering other options and remains committed to new health provision in Saddleworth.

The centre scheme has been in existence for almost two years, along with the concept of a community centre at the Knoll Mill site off Chew Valley Road.

In a joint statement Oldham Primary Care Trust and Community First Oldham, the financiers delivering the programme, said: “Our aim has always been to create a network of community healthcare provision which can meet the needs of Oldham’s communities now and in the future. As part of this we have been looking at new health provision in Saddleworth and, as people know, we have been negotiating with Tesco for some time.

=“Disappointingly the costings and proposals coming through Tesco make the scheme as it stands unaffordable for us.

“We can reassure people that this does not mean we have put our plans for the Saddleworth area on the backburner. We will continue to look at all our options.”

Mike Rooke, secretary of Greenfield and Grasscroft Residents’ Association, said: “We fear this will be a missed opportunity to create new health facilities for the Saddleworth community.

“Abandoning this public-private partnership at this stage could leave residents without long-overdue new health care provision for many years. We acknowledge how hard the PCT has striven to improve health provision for all Oldham people and we are under no illusions about the hard-nosed motives of Tesco.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We did a lot of research and came up with what seemed a fair rent. If the PCT cannot afford it, that is unfortunate, but we did try to come up with a scheme that would work.”