A DENTAL practice's plans to extend its premises and create a new surgery room to help deal with a "huge backlog" of patients have been granted approval.
Alverna House Dental Surgery, on Blackbrook Road, has submitted a planning application asking to create a single-storey extension at its premises.
This is for an additional dental surgery room and waiting area which the practice says is to help meet "demand" in the area.
In the plans, a statement from Alverna House stated: "As you may be aware currently there is an acute shortage of dentists and in particular NHS dentists across the country.
"We have a huge backlog of patients that we are trying to cover and treat since covid.
"Currently we are running at existing capacity and are not able to meet the demand in the local area. Our dentists are booked for two months and this can have serious adverse effects on patients."
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The statement adds the new surgery room "will be extremely beneficial to the local area and allow us to work towards clearing our backlog and in the future building on our NHS capacity.
"Our waiting list for new patients is currently over 2,000 patients. In addition to this we are looking to have dedicated oral surgery days.
"At the moment, hospitals are backlogged with oral surgery extractions and some patients are having to wait in pain for over nine months to be seen at the hospital.
"In addition to this the NHS incurs a huge cost to treat patients in secondary care and some of these cases will be dealt with in our new surgery".
A design and access statement in the plans concludes: "The proposal seeks to be both complimentary and sympathetic to the original architectural merit of the building
"The additional surgery facility will provide a significant contribution to the local community by way of reducing waiting times and enhancing the service the practice already delivers to the local area.
"The proposal is deemed a positive addition on a number of levels and with respect should be duly considered for approval".
Recommending permission be granted, planning officer Natasha Ayres said in a report: "The proposals would provide an improvement to the existing function of the practice through the provision of additional space which will assist in meeting demand and the day-to-day operation of the surgery. The proposal would improve health facilities for residents of the borough on an established dentists site.
"It is not anticipated that the proposals will create an appearance that is incongruous within the context of the existing building and the surrounding area.
"It is considered due to the orientation, position and scale of the extension, there is no detrimental impact anticipated upon the residential amenity of any properties".
She added "there are no highway concerns as it is not considered there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety or severe residual cumulative impacts on the road network."
Approval was granted.
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