PROPOSALS to create a replacement health centre for Barnoldswick in a former bank have been given the thumbs down.

West Craven councillors described the proposals by the NHS to replace the existing Butts Clinic with a new facility in the former Yorkshire Bank in the town centre as 'appalling' and 'unacceptable'.

A strongly worded letter to the NHS should also ask whether a feasibility study had been carried out on the Butts Clinic, agreed councillors. It should also suggest the alternative site of the Rainhall Road car park with a new centre built above the retained car parking - similarly to Sainsbury's at Colne.

The meeting of the area committee of Pendle Council held at the Rainhall Centre, Barnoldswick heard that NHS Property Services had been looking at 'various options' for future service needs in the town since 2018.

It is using a health led review of demand and supply, taking into consideration condition and the amount of investment required, and is working with partners, East Lancashire CCG, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

In a report to the committee, NHS Property Services said speech and language services, podiatry and midwifery services used the Butts Clinic, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, all but the midwives were working remotely, or from other sites.

Its preferred option was to sell the Butts Clinic and to set up a new health facility in the former bank. That would include three multi-purpose rooms, one consulting room and a back office so 'providing space within Barnoldswick so services are not displaced'.

The report said: "The rooms will support Minds Matters, speech and language, midwifery and podiatry. Bookable space will also be available at the Colne Health Centre as a overflow solution for patients who are able to travel the four mile journey. The rooms will be modern fit for purpose flexible space which will be co-located with existing NHS services within a well established community building."

But, Councillor David Whipp said Barnoldswick was being sold short and that the bank had poor access and would be 'cramped' - describing it as an 'appalling' suggestion.

Cllr Whipp said a far better option would be a new build in the Rainhall Road car park where a whole raft of health services, including doctors, could be under one roof.

"It just beggars belief that we are palmed off with second best in Barlick, surely we can have a health centre that is fit for purpose in the 21st century," he said.

Cllr Mike Goulthorp said he would like to see an 'all singing, all dancing' centre to serve Barnoldswick and its surrounding villages. He also wanted to know whether a feasibility study had been carried out on the Butts Clinic.