A HEALTH board said it continues to “progress a local option” to relocate a Basingstoke surgery after plans to move to another building fell through following two years of talks. 

As previously reported, plans to relocate Chineham Medical Practice to Jameson House fell through last month following two years of planning.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) approved the plans last year to move the GP surgery to the building in Lutyens Close, which would have been refitted to accommodate the practice in a multi-million-pound development.

Read more: Multi-million pound Basingstoke GP relocation falls through after two years of talks

The new building was sought because the current site of the surgery in Reading Road is no longer large enough and does not meet the needs of a growing population.

However, the ICB announced in February that the move will not go ahead because it doesn’t represent “value for money”.

Now, the ICB has said its estates team “continues to progress a local option”.

A spokesperson said: “Once everything is in place, we will be able to confirm the new location. New accommodation for Chineham Medical Practice remains a key priority for the ICB and we are working hard to this end.”

The ICB said to date, “no financial outlay has been spent by the ICB in relation to the development of any site to accommodate Chineham Medical Practice”.

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The spokesperson added: “While time has been spent on exploring and researching the option of moving to Jameson House this is usual for an estates scheme where time and resource goes into researching a planned relocation to make sure everything stacks up… this has unfortunately not come to fruition with regards to Jameson House as it wasn’t financially viable.”

As previously reported, the decision came as a blow to Absolutely Holdings, which owns Jameson House.

A spokesperson for the company said it had taken a “philanthropic view” to accept the offer from Chineham surgery after receiving two offers for the property.

They added: “[It] was felt the medical centre was needed far more than money.”

Absolutely Holdings said it had been working with the ICB since February 2021, with terms agreed in January 2022.

The spokesperson added: “When the ICB withdrew their offer, it came as a complete surprise. We had not marketed the property and had kept it vacant, fully expecting to conclude a deal with the ICB.”