01905 362120
01905 362120
People in a County Durham village have been invited to take a tour around their new library and health centre, when the £4.5m Lavender Centre in Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, was officially opened to the public on Friday, 8 March.
A joint project between NHS County Durham and Darlington, Pelton and Fellrose Medical Group and Durham County Council, the development is based on the former site of Pelton Infant and Junior School and was developed by Prime plc.
As well as replacing the town’s old library, the centre provides a new home for the Pelton and Fellrose practice as well as the Middle Chare Medical Group and also includes a pharmacy and community room.
Steve Howell, Durham County Council’s head of culture and sport, said: “The Lavender Centre offers modern, well-equipped facilities which will be of enormous benefit to the community. We are very pleased to be a part of its development and to be able to invite people to make the most of these fantastic new facilities.”
Dr Anita Turner, GP with Pelton and Fellrose Medical Group, said: “We are delighted after 10 years of planning to be in our new premises. The Lavender Centre provides us with a spacious, bright, modern facility from which to deliver our services to the local community. The move will allow us to expand our team enabling us to continue to deliver the very best modern-day General Practice can offer.”
Lady Ann Calman, chair of NHS County Durham and Darlington, said: “We are very pleased to mark the opening of the new health centre in Pelton. The new facilities are much-needed and will provide local people with a modern, state-of-the-art development in which to access health services.”
As well as offering GP services, the medical centre will provide a local base for services including health visitors, midwifery, district nursing, physiotherapy, counselling, phlebotomy, podiatry and chronic disease management.
Its design incorporates various forms of sustainable technology and renewable energy, including rainwater harvesting.