Success for campaign to save former GP building

CAMPAIGNERS who fought to save the former Locks Hill GP surgery building from demolition, say they are “delighted” that the plans were rejected by Mendip District Council. 

Instead, a planning application has been made to retain the building – which closed as a GP surgery in 2016 – converting it into a family home. 

The plans have been welcomed by the Twentieth Century Society, an organisation that campaigns to save “outstanding buildings”, who championed the former GP surgery as “a building of architectural interest”. 

The society’s caseworker Coco Whittaker said, “We strongly objected to proposals to demolish the building and by working closely with the original architects, we were able to clearly show how the former surgery could be reused.  

“We are delighted that the [district] council rejected the original application and that this new scheme has come forward. This case shows that adaptive reuse is possible and should always be considered before demolition.” 

Frome Town Council has also backed the new plans.  They said, “We positively support this application and are pleased to see the building retained and reused as a family home and that there is the opportunity for the provision of parking for the neighbouring pharmacy.”

The Locks Hill Surgery was built between 1995 and 1996 to designs by the architects and writers Jeremy and Caroline Gould, and is featured in Pevsner’s Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol volume. 

The Twentieth Century Society said, “The Goulds have designed creative, well-composed buildings which are sensitive to their environments, such as the Library and Resources Centre at Millfield School (1977-80) in Street. Locks Hill was one of a number of doctors’ surgeries built by the Goulds in the 1990s, the others located in Street, Crewkerne and Budleigh Salterton. The Goulds have also written extensively about modern architecture, and co-authored the critically-acclaimed Coventry: The Making of a Modern City 1939-73. 

“The Goulds said that although they were disappointed that the surgery was no longer required by the Health Authority, they were, of course, pleased that it will not now be demolished, adding that as a building designed to a human scale, it should make an interesting house without much reconfiguration.” 

Blue Homes Ltd had originally submitted a planning application to demolish the surgery and build seven new homes. Frome Civic Society and Mendip District Council’s assistant conservation officer had objected, along with many residents.