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It will thus be seen that prior to the "appointed day" it only
remained to make family doctor services available to adult males and
the elderly for the clinics to have become health centres in the fullest
sense.
It now appears unlikely that new health centres will ever be built
on the scale envisaged when the National Health Service Bill was
under consideration, and preparation of the County Development
Plan during the year has caused further consideration of long term
policy.
It was originally planned to have five health centres, each conveniently
situated in the neighbourhood unit to be served, but owing
to the decision that such neighbourhood units should cater for a
population of 20,000 instead of the 15,000 previously envisaged Barking
was "rationed " to four health centres.
The area comprising the Becontree Estate north of the District
Railway and a similar area to the south still form obvious units. For
the Becontree north area it had been hoped to reserve a site in Cannington
Road but unfortunately this was earmarked exclusively for
educational purposes in the County Development Plan, and you have
somewhat reluctantly decided to accept an alternative site in the
Mayesbrook Park adjacent to the proposed community centre. This is
situated at the very periphery of the unit and across busy Lodge Avenue,
and when the time comes you may wish to consider the possibility of a
multi-story building on the site of the existing Porters Aven e clinic.
The originally suggested site on Castle Green remains to serve
Becontree South, and here it may later be possible to incorporate a
day nursery to replace the existing Gale Street Nursery.
The older end of the Town was to have been served by a centre
on the St. Paul's Church site but since this was allocate for other
purposes you decided to earmark a site in the vicinity of proposed
New Town Hall and the area of Central redevelopment. this centre
is not likely to be needed for many years to come, and in view of the
excellent condition of the existing Central Clinic you may later decide
simply to extend the present building and build a new wi to accommodate
the dental surgeries still at East Street, the Centra Foot Cliniv
and the Dental Workshop.
For the fourth centre the Rosslyn Road site provisionally marked
on the draft Development Plan has been abandoned and the Health
Area Sub-Committee has adopted my suggestion of a site within the
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