£55m Catterick Garrison healthcare campus set to be approved

A joint NHS and MoD plan to create a healthcare campus double the size of the average Tesco Extra superstore at the heart of Catterick Garrison looks set to be approved after the proposals attracted no objections.

Richmondshire District Council’s planning officers are supporting the £55m scheme, which has sparked controversy over the lack of NHS dentistry provision, will provide a range of services for the garrison’s expanding military population as well as the wider Richmondshire area.

The proposed Catterick Integrated Care Campus has already received strong support from community leaders ahead of councillors considering the proposal on Tuesday.

Elected representatives across Richmondshire say the campus would bring healthcare provision closer for many residents of the vast and largely district as well as increasing access to NHS services near to some of North Yorkshire’s most deprived communities.

It will feature primary care, advanced primary care, mental health services, physiotherapy, dentistry and Third Sector healthcare support providers.

In a report to Tuesday’s meeting, recommending the scheme be approved so building work can start in the spring, officers said the three-storey E-shaped modular premises with 13,496sqm of floor space would be a “flagship building” in the area.

The 113m long structure will include numerous health facilities, including the MoD Medical and Dental Service and the NHS Harewood Medical Practice.

The 4-hectare former Peronne Lines site, off Scotton Road, near Princes Gate Shopping Park and Tesco superstore, will also include 169 staff and 229 visitor parking spaces, a linear park, community and sensory garden, arboretum garden and an entrance piazza.

The site has remained in military use since 1915, seven years after Catterick Garrison, the largest base of the British Army, was founded by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, who was also the founder of the scouting movement.

While approval has already been granted to level much of the site, the existing Baden Powell House will be retained and used by the project team, before being refurbished and used as the Defence Medical Services operational centre.

Designed to meet the latest building regulations, NHS and MoD Primary Healthcare standards, the new centre aims to be one of the first facilities of this scale in the area to meet net zero carbon standards.

Although some trees will be removed, the vast majority will be retained and upwards of 48 new trees will be planted within the scheme, which other environmental credentials include solar panels, 16 vehicle charging points, low energy lighting, intelligent building management and spaces for 90 cycles.

The officers’ report states: “The building will be a flagship building for the area due to its height, massing and modern appearance.

“The development is of a good quality design that sits comfortably within the site. Whilst larger in height than buildings within the immediate vicinity it is considered to be acceptable due to the mature tree back drop to the north, the retention of Baden Powell House at the front of the site and that the building is set back within the site.”