A ten-surgery dental practice in the centre of the Isle of Wight’s largest town has been given the go ahead.
County Hall approved Simon Bola of Damira Dental Studios Ltd’s application for a change of use of part of the upper floors of 7-8 High Street in Ryde to allow the whole building to be used as a dental practice.
The basement and ground floor of the now vacant three-storey property housed a branch of Barclays Bank until 2022.
Upper floors were previously used as office and residential space – the applicant proposed to convert a flat into two surgeries.
A severe lack of NHS dental care on the Island
The Alex Munday Planning consultancy submitted a statement on behalf of the dental provider,
“This application seeks to provide a dental surgery to meet increased demand in the face of rising challenges for the NHS.
“In October 2023, BUPA decided to sell their practice in Ryde because they could no longer fulfil their NHS dental contract.
“Many other dental practices on the Isle of Wight have also done the same, resulting in a severe lack of NHS dental care on the Island for the local population.
“The NHS is releasing more units of dental activity on the Isle of Wight to fill the gap left by the dental practices that have returned their contracts.
“The contract for the Ryde area would require a ten-surgery practice and this is why Damira Dental have purchased the building as it is the only site in the area big enough for ten surgeries.”
Exclusively internal alterations
An Isle of Wight council report said the proposal would ‘benefit the community and economy within Ryde town centre’.
It said,
“The application site is located within Ryde Conservation Area and Heritage Action Zone. The proposed alterations through this change of use would be exclusively internal.
“Therefore, the fabric and essential character of 7 to 8 High Street, Ryde would not be altered. Subsequently, the proposed change of use would not result in any detrimental impact upon the integrity and historic character of Ryde Conservation Area or Heritage Action Zone.
“The proposed hours of operation for the dentists would not result in a significant increase in noise disturbance to any nearby residential units.”
Ryde Town Council supported the application and commented,
“Whilst not a material consideration, we would like to see every effort made to register as many NHS patients as possible.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
