Plans to build a “super surgery” to serve more than 13,000 patients have been given the green light.

Proposals to convert a former car park in Steele Avenue, Greenhithe into a medical centre were unanimously approved at a meeting of Dartford council this week - three years after they were first proposed.

The development will see the amalgamation of two general practices, Swanscombe and Bean Partnership and the Temple Hill Group, with patients from surgeries at Elmdene, Greenhithe and Ivy Bower using the new building, as well as offering the capacity to register new patients.

At a meeting of the Developmental Control Board at Dartford council, the three-storey building was described by agents MGI Limited as “a once in a generation opportunity to improve primary care” and an ideal way “to access a wide range of services under one roof”.

It had previously been met with opposition concerning issues with the location, undercroft parking, lack of trees and increased travel demands due to its reliance on patients using public transport.

However, plans were amended following additional consultation with the public to add, among other things, a green roof, new entrance point, additional tree and hedge planting, and cycle parking.

Residents, councillors and local health leaders had all expressed their frustration at the hold up as the stalled plans are seen as desperately needed in an area with pressure on GP services.

It was even feared tens of thousands of patients could be left without a doctors’ surgery altogether if the proposals were not given the green light soon after three existing surgeries received notices of eviction, or were told their leases will be not renewed.

The surgeries in Elmdene, Greenhithe and Ivy Bower, run by Swanscombe and Bean Partnership and Temple Hill Group, are currently housed in buildings “not fit for the provision of primary care in the 21sth century”.

But on Thursday (May 16) councillors concluded the overwhelming need for the facility due to rapid housing growth – including the 15,000 homes planned nearby at Ebbsfleet Garden City - outweighed any objections.

Labour councillor for Swanscombe Claire Pearce said: “The benefit for patients as a whole and the community needs to be taken into consideration. The need is so urgent.”

The only request by councillors was for an adaption to be made to the parking provision with an assurance the applicant will demonstrate “a clear balance” between those spaces available for staff and those that can be used for patients.

It was also requested provision be looked into to ensure commuters used to parking in the previous car park do not return to use the spaces at the medical site.

According to the plans, 40 of the 47 parking spaces available were due to be allocated to staff, electric vehicles and disabled parking.

Now the plans have been approved it will up to the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) to decide if they want to use the new building.

Kelvin Reynolds, chair of the Swanscombe and Bean patient participation group, a group of volunteer patients, carers and GP practice staff who meet regularly to discuss and support the running of their GP practice, said the decision was “very welcome news” that was “long overdue”.

“The sooner it’s delivered the better,” he added. “I understand that if the Kent and Medway ICB approves the funding soon, we will see the health centre open its doors in time for Christmas 2025.

"We must also be mindful that this is still 18 months away and more facilities are urgently required now to assist our GPs and their health care teams and I call upon the ICB to redouble its efforts to find additional and adequate accommodation whilst Greenhithe health centre is being built.”

In a previous written response, the ICB stated: “The business case submission to the ICB will require confirmation that planning permission has been granted for the proposed facility and that the proposed scheme is value for money.”

Last month in Sittingbourne plans for a state-of-the-art medical centre that would allow a GP practice to take on 6,000 new patients were left on hold.

It comes after NHS Kent and Medway, who would help to fund the GP practice, raised concerns over the cost of the rent.