A temporary building in support of a medical centre could be allowed to stay another six years, as there is no chance of a replacement surgery on the cards.

The Marden Medical Centre, based at the corner of Chantry Road and Church Green, was granted planning permission for a modular support building back in October 2020, but the temporary permission expires this October.

Patient numbers have grown over the past 10 years to 7,452, making the use of the modular building essential as it provides an additional consulting room and admin space.

But despite this, the surgery said funding is not available for a permenant facility

A statement said: “The strategic policy position has begun to become clearer. This means that while some future housing growth will take place in Marden, larger strategic housing growth will be very likely take place elsewhere.

“This means that any permanent replacement health care facility is not currently on the radar for Marden and it is not anticipated that any funding for new facilities will be available in the medium term.”

The surgery was refering to the fact the some years ago, the borough council had been considering Marden as the site for a garden village, but in the end it opted to put forward two alternative locations for a garden village in the Local Plan – Lidsing and Lenham Heath.

Details of the surgery’s planning application can be found here.

Application number 23/502167 refers.