A PUBLIC campaign has been launched for a doctors’ surgery to serve the Wallyford area.

The village’s community council has started an online petition urging health bosses to take up an offer from East Lothian Developments Ltd to build a health facility in the new housing area at St Clements Wells, saying it was “an opportunity not to be missed”.

The group stressed this would “go a long way to easing the pressure” on Riverside Medical Practice at Musselburgh – the largest practice in East Lothian and one of the biggest in Scotland, with about 19,000 patients.

The petition, started by community council vice-chairman Justin Hynd, said: “GP and medical provision in Musselburgh and the surrounding area is already at breaking point and with the massive expansion of homes being built, it is only going to get worse.

“The village of Wallyford is one such area that is experiencing a massive growth in population, with over 2,000 homes being built, bringing with it a potential population increase of more than 8,000 residents.

“A new primary school has been built and a new high school is currently under construction, with the first intake of pupils due in 2023.

“As part of the expansion, the developer, East Lothian Developments Ltd, is committed to building new shops and a new GP surgery, all of which have been approved by East Lothian Council planning department.

“Although this won’t solve the GP crisis in the Musselburgh cluster, it would go a long way to easing the pressure currently being experienced at Riverside Medical Practice in Musselburgh.

“Unfortunately, despite unanimous cross-party local government, MSP and community council support, NHS Lothian Integration Joint Board and East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership do not deem there is a need for additional provision in Wallyford and we have to ask why not?”

Alister Hadden, chairman of the community council, added: “Wallyford Community Council has endeavoured for several years now to have an NHS medical practice within Wallyford for its growing/expanding community.

“Now that the opportunity is available with East Lothian Developments Ltd having secured planning permission for such a facility, the community council, with its online petition, wishes to express the absolute necessity and community feeling to NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government that this is an opportunity not to be missed.

“It will serve not only Wallyford but the wider community, and if not taken up at this critical stage, will probably not be available again.”

The petition will be sent to NHS Lothian, East Lothian Integration Joint Board and HSCP, Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care Humza Yousaf, MSPs, East Lothian Council and local councillors.

Jim Aitken, who previously headed up the development at St Clements Wells, said: “I spent over 10 years trying to shape what came forward at St Clements and, although I have stepped back now, I still keep a very close eye on everything that is happening as the development is built out.

“Over that period, I spoke to local people every single time I was on the site and, whilst there were many different views on certain things, there was complete agreement that Wallyford needed its own NHS facility to resolve all of the well-known problems accessing services through Riverside in Musselburgh.

“Planning for that new NHS facility as part of the development was a complete no-brainer.

“Lots of new houses bring lots of new families to Wallyford and those people deserve access to medical facilities.”

He added: “Wallyford had similar historic issues around education provision but a bit of foresight and planning should shortly give Wallyford among the best, if not the best, education facilities in Scotland.

“The new primary school is already making a huge difference and no one who passes the new secondary school can fail to be excited about it opening in August 2023.”

Mr Aitken said that between the two schools in the centre of the development lay a piece of land that could, and should, be used for the NHS facility.

Jonathan Brindle, of East Lothian Developments Ltd, said that the company “fully endorses” the campaign, saying it “simply reinforces longstanding wishes of the community to have effective local NHS provision for Wallyford”.

He added: “We have tried to work with the NHS team throughout the past year to deliver the NHS facility at the very heart of St Clements alongside the commercial units.

“Regrettably, the NHS team have been unable or unwilling to commit to an NHS facility at Wallyford and we are now at the point where we will have to take alternatives forward on that land in order to meet the timescales for the wider development.

“Inevitably, once the site is used for something else, there will be no going back and the opportunity will be lost despite the valiant efforts of the community.”

A spokesperson for East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership said: “The position of East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership remains the same.

“Wallyford continues to be an area of interest within the Premises Strategy for Primary Care in East Lothian and we are working with NHS Lothian to prioritise the development of primary care facilities based on population need.”

The online petition, which already has more than 290 signatures, is available at chng.it/R4qr4gfXLk