PLANS that would see the fields that host Stow Fair transformed into a state-ofthe- art doctors surgery have been submitted.

An application has now been submitted to Cotswold District Council for a primary healthcare centre and pharmacy along with five private and five affordable homes on the site of the twice-yearly fair between Oddington Road and Maugersbury Road.

Stow Surgery is working with JRN Properties Ltd on the proposed development.

The current facilities in the town are considered inadequate and doctors say the need for a new surgery is paramount with the number of patients and the increasing elderly population.

Contracts were exchanged for the purchase of the field last year, but the move is subject to planning permission.

Speaking at a Stow Town Council meeting, Dr Tim Healy said: “I think you probably all realise we’ve been trying for over ten years to find a site for the surgery.

“Things are getting worse. We simply don’t have the facilities at the surgery to give the care we would like.

“The work we are doing at the moment is incredibly hampered as the numbers go up and we get busier and busier.“If we don’t get planning permission I’m very fearful we will not get another site for a considerable time.

“If we do have to wait a long time it’s inevitable the care will suffer.”

Some concerns were expressed by the town council.

Councillor Chris Turner said: “The field is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I believe it should not be built on.”

He also said he had concerns over traffic issues on an already busy road.

Councillor Sue Green, speaking to the developers, said: “I don’t question for a minute the people of Stow’s need for a surgery.

“The thing that makes people slightly uncomfortable is potential further development of the land, and the land between your site and the rest of Stow.”

But developer John Nutbourne, of JRN Properties Ltd, said only about ten per cent of the field would be built on.