RESULTS of a consultation into controversial plans for a new medical centre on a stretch of green belt have been published.

NHS Wirral launched the survey to gauge opinion on its plans to develop a One Stop Primary Care Centre on the site of the former Warrens Nursery, on Thingwall Road East.

The plan has been at the centre of a bitter debate between the Primary Care Trust (PCT) and protesters who say they are bidding to chip away at vital green belt land under false pretences.

The PCT says it must replace practices on Rocky Lane, in Thingwall, and Irby, which no longer meet Disability Discrimination Act requirements and have no parking.

NHS Wirral claims the survey overwhelmingly backs their plans, with 2,725 patients returning the forms, and 1,766 (64%) agreeing strongly with the proposal.

Health chiefs say it is “significant” that the majority of those who responded were over 60, which they say indicates older patients were not excessively worried about getting to the site.

Campaigners against the plan had said the elderly would find travelling hard if practices which were nearer to them were closed.

The results of the survey revealed respondents put the range of health services as their first priority, and retaining greenery as last.

The survey has been fiercely criticised by Val Curtis, of Friends of Arrowe Park.

She said: “These results mean nothing.

“They have played the rotten game of using people in wheelchairs to advance their arguments, but the truth is they have had years to expand the existing practices and make them accessible. They haven’t.

“The PCT has consistently released propaganda and their figures are not reliable.

“All along, they ask ‘Do you want improved facilities’ but that is a separate issue. They could easily ask ‘Do you want someone to build on the green belt?’

“The fact is, people do not want the GP they know and can access easily replaced by a distant private enterprise.”