Plans lodged for primary care centre in Navan
A NEW proposal for a much-needed primary care centre to serve the town of Navan has been put forward for a site at the Balmoral Estate on the Kells Road.
A planning application was lodged last week by Foxtrot Investment 2011 Limited for the development of a seven-storey building of 7,215 sqm together with 200 car parking spaces.
The proposed building, if approved, would accommodate a primary care centre with a wide range of services to be centralised in one location including mental health services, social care services, dental services, orthdontics, opthalmology, and audiology.
This latest proposal comes two years after a previous plan by UHPC International to build a primary care centre at a site at Moathill close to Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, was shot down by planners over traffic concerns with the site recently being put up for sale.
The new proposal has been put forward by Foxtrot Investment 2011 Limited for a 1.03 hectares site at Balmoral and the company recently lodged a planning application with Meath Co Council for the development which consists of the construction of a primary care centre and associated development with a total gross floor area of 7,215 sqm.
It includes a general practitioner practice unit of 239 sqm and a retail pharmacy unit of 111 sqm located at ground floor level, with a primary care centre consisting of 1,477sqm of treatment/office/support space across ground, first, second and third floor levels with access from the ground floor.
An Enhanced Community Care Hub of 1,182sqm is proposed for the third and fourth floor levels, with a Community Mental Health Team unit at fifth floor level (950 sqm). Also included is a Mental Health Service unit at third and sixth floor levels (761 sqm), Social Care Service unit at ground and third floor levels (587sqm), Primary Care Centre Dental Practice at first floor level (434 sqm), Opthalmology facility at first and second floor levels (158 sqm), Orthodontics unit at first floor level (154sqm), Audiology department at first floor level (85 sqm) and a 239 sqm HSE / Primary Care Team shared service area at ground floor level including clinic rooms and waiting area.
There will also be 200 car parking spaces at ground floor and podium level (including 20 EV charging spaces and 10 accessible spaces) and 30 bicycle parking spaces accessed from the internal estate road branching north from the N51 Kells Road.
At the time of going to press, the HSE had not yet responded to a query about the proposal. However, in a previous statement a month ago when the Meath Chronicle asked for an update on the provision of a primary care centre for Navan, a spokesperson said that the provision of a new primary care centre in Navan, was being delivered via the HSE Primary Care Centre Operational Lease Model and that a Letter of Intent had been issued to the preferred provider with discussions almost concluded regarding layouts for the proposed new primary care centre and it was anticipated that the developer would lodge a planning application in June 2024.
“The new Primary Care Centre in Navan will include accommodation for Adult Mental Health services, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, Orthodontics, Dental, Ophthalmology, Primary Care, Doc on Call Out of Hours Services, Enhanced Community Care, Enable Ireland and HSE Disability Services,” the HSE spokesperson said.