Maldon MP Sir John Whittingdale OBE MP and Witham MP Dame Priti Patel MP have called on the Government to enable Maldon District Council to use the £5m of Levelling Up funds provided in the Spring Budget to support improved health facilities and services in Maldon town. With the NHS currently considering the future of St Peter’s Hospital John and Priti have been working with Maldon District Council to press the Government to enable the funds, originally allocated for Cultural Levelling Up, to be used to support the development of a new health hub off of Wycke Hill.
The development of a new health hub has stalled and if Levelling Up funding can be used flexibly to remove those barriers then this will help bring forward much-needed new health provision for Maldon District. Priti, John and Maldon District Council have written to the Levelling Up Minister to make this request.
The two MPs who represent the Maldon District have also raised in the House of Commons this week the need to safeguard and invest in health services in Maldon Town and concerns over the consultation process undertaken by the NHS on the proposals to close St Peter’s. John and Priti questioned the Health Secretary on Tuesday, who committed to take an interest in the consultation and expressed support Levelling Up funds to be used to support health outcomes. Priti also questioned Levelling Up Ministers on Monday over this matter.
Sir John is pictured below putting the case to the Minister:
Dame Priti said:
“Local communities across the Maldon District need new modern new health facilities to provide the health services that our growing and ageing population. The plans by the NHS to close St Peters is causing widespread alarm and concern and for rural communities this will mean having to travel further to receive important health treatments and access appointments and services. We believe that the £5m of Levelling Up funding could make a real difference if the Government allows the Council to use this money flexibly to fund new health facilities and enable us to keep services local.”
Sir John said:
“The Budget announcement that the Maldon District is to receive £5 million from the Levelling Up Fund was great news. However, if local residents are to obtain maximum benefit then this would be far better used to help obtain the long-promised new health facilities in the town rather than for cultural projects. That is why we have written to the Minister to ask for greater flexibility in the use of the funds, as have the Leaders of both Essex County Council and Maldon District Council.”
22 April 2024, DLUHC OPQs:
Priti Patel
(Witham) (Con)
Ministers are aware that Maldon District Council was allocated £5 million of levelling-up funding. My right hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale), the council and I have been informed that the funding must be spent on cultural projects, despite our having a local plan that will see the closure of St Peter’s Hospital. We want the money to be spent on levelling up health and wellbeing, which is one of the five principles of levelling up. Will Ministers urgently review all our representations so that we can work at pace to sort out this terrible issue and level up our health situation?
Simon Hoare
My right hon. Friend makes a powerful point, and I know St Peter’s Hospital pretty well from a previous life. The Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Jacob Young), has signalled to me that he is aware of the issue, has sympathy with my right hon. Friend and will be happy to meet her in pretty quick time to discuss further details.
22 April 2024, DHSC OPQs:
Priti Patel
(Witham) (Con)
The Health Secretary will know about the health inequalities across the east of England, including in Maldon district, which will only be made worse if the NHS’s plans to close St Peter’s Hospital in Maldon proceed. Does she agree that the levelling-up funding that has been made available to Maldon District Council should be prioritised to facilitate investment in new localised health services, so that those inequalities can be tackled?
Victoria Atkins
My right hon. Friend makes an important point. The purpose of the levelling-up fund is to help local areas to address what they need locally, rather than respond to diktat from central London. I encourage her to work closely, as I know she will, with local agencies, the council and others making those important decisions, so that their levelling-up announcements include health, as an integral part of her mission to improve the lives of her constituents.
Sir John Whittingdale
(Maldon) (Con)
T2. As my right hon. Friend has already heard from my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), the Mid and South Essex ICB has published proposals to close St Peter’s Hospital in Maldon and to relocate medical services elsewhere, despite the huge growth taking place in the town. I have to say to the Secretary of State that my constituents have little confidence in the consultation. Will she therefore look closely at the outcome and, if necessary, intervene to ensure that my constituents are still able to access vital health services within the town? (902453)
Victoria Atkins
I thank my right hon. Friend for raising that matter. I understand that a consultation was conducted locally and that more than 5,000 local people and staff responded. Their feedback will be analysed by an independent research agency, which will produce a report for the Mid and South Essex ICB, and a meeting is due to take place in public in July. I will, of course, continue to take an interest in this matter.
