A PUBLIC meeting has piled the pressure on the council to change their decision over the controversial Stow Doctors Surgery decision.

Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown held the meeting amid concerns at the lack of progress in the two years since planning permission was granted on the Tall Trees site.

John Nutbourne has submitted a new application for a surgery on the Gypsy Field site after his bid was rejected in 2015.

The MP called a motion for ‘Cotswold District Council to expedite the John Nutbourne application as soon as possible.’ was passed by 140 votes to 14.

The meeting at Stow Town Hall heard from Mr Nutbourne as well as Andrew Eastabrook, on behalf Jenny Scarsbrook the owner of the Tall Trees site, gave an update on its progress.

The meeting followed a claim by Mr Eastabrook that funding had been secured for the site, however, this was doubted by Mr Nutbourne.

Mr Clifton-Brown said: “Although I do not favour either site, it is clear that the Tall Trees site has a number of hurdles to overcome before the doctors can sign a contract with them and building can begin.

“In order to keep pressure to build the surgery as soon as possible I proposed the motion so that, subject to planning considerations by Cotswold District Council (CDC), there could be an alternative.

“I hope that the CDC will take due notice of the motion passed by an overwhelming number of people who attended the meeting in Stow-on-the-Wold.”

Mr Eastabrook said in response to the meeting: “We were very disappointed with the way Geoffrey Clifton Brown’s meeting was conducted and that we were given minimal information in advance about its objectives or format.

“We didn’t feel were we able to communicate some of the key points around the surgery.

“For example, our plans allow for significant expansion.

“The Tall Trees team has spent two years gaining planning permission from Cotswold District Council, funding from the NHS and final construction funding.

“We are ready to go. Any other developer would be starting from scratch.”