All-in-one centre first for Oldham

ARTIST’S impression . . . the neighbourhood centre’s Fircroft Road frontage could look like this

Fitton Hill awaits verdict

Fitton Hill residents will be able to get a health check, take out a book and join a community group all under one roof if plans for a pioneering £4.5 million neighbourhood centre get off the ground next week.

The facility, planned for land off New Barn Road and Fircroft Road, will be the first of its kind in Oldham.

Part of the centre will house doctors, dentists and other health services, the rest will include a library and youth and community centre, as well as affordable accommodation for voluntary groups.

It will replace the current Fitton Hill Library and youth and community centre, which are both in poor condition and will probably close unless money is spent on repairs. The new venture will be partly financed with £2 million from the Hathershaw and Fitton Hill New Deal for Communities fund, which will be wound up by 2011.

The NDC board aims to have a flagship building at the heart of Fitton Hill, securing new primary care services in an area where health is below average, and to get as much shared space as possible to cut costs and get maximum use.

Money will also come from Oldham Council which is supplying the land. The development will be carried out by Community First Oldham (C1OL), which is building a number of integrated health and neighbourhood centres.

In return, part of the accommodation will be leased to the council rent-free for 25 years.

If the proposals are approved by councillors on Monday, work could start in April, 2010.

And officers hope to encourage a small retail development near-by, consisting of a relocated Fitton Hill Post Office, small supermarket and pharmacy.

The centre has been long delayed, and has been included in three masterplans for the area, which was awarded £53 million of Government funding in 2000.

The site was visited by Government minister Tony McNulty on his first official engagement in 2002.

Recent negotiations with NHS Oldham — the primary care trust which commissions C1OL to carry out health, council and care developments — have got the plans moving.

A report to councillors states: “The Fitton Hill development is now at a stage where it needs to take place as quickly as possible to meet service requirements and take advantage of the time-limited availability of the NDC grant.”