Ebbsfleet Garden City is set to get its first on site pharmacy after a two year licensing appeal.

Plans are taking shape for up to 15,000 homes to built as part of the major housing development between Dartford and Gravesend.

Construction is already underway in the largest settlement, Eastern Quarry, where a portion of the more than 6,000 planned homes have already been built in Castle Hill, alongside a new primary school and a mixed use development for retail and leisure.

Now the village's recently completed Castle Hill Local Centre will host the garden city's first pharmacy.

It follows a two year period in which several applications for the site were turned down amid concerns over whether it would "confer significant benefits" and secure better access to pharmaceutical services.

However, the decision to grant the licence was awarded on the back of a recent appeal to NHS England.

At the pharmacy appeals committee, appointed by NHS Resolution, it was observed existing pharmacies in Swanscombe had difficult parking and they had reported these problems.

In addition, it was said these issues were likely to get worse as the development grows and that nearby Bluewater Shopping Centre was not an appropriate alternative.

The committee concluded: "The fact that the Castle Hill has no pharmacy whatsoever, and the nearest is in a separate neighbourhood means that there is a clear lack of choice for the new residents in the Castle Hill village.

"Whilst other pharmacies in Gravesend exist, none are any more accessible to the Castle Hill residents. They are all more challenging to get to by car, and are not accessible by a reasonable use of public transport."

Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, the planning authority for the garden city, were approached last year to support the appeal.

Feedback was used from the ‘Learning from Lockdown’ survey, a Facebook poll conducted with local residents, as well as letters of support from Dartford MP Gareth Johnson to demonstrate a need for more local amenities.

Mary Rouse, the planning authority's project manager for the Health and Wellbeing Hub said: “We are really pleased to have been able to deliver a practical and physical response to the feedback from the resident’s survey.

“We know that residents want to see more local facilities and we have been able to represent these views to those making strategic decisions for local services."

“We know that residents want to see more local facilities and we have been able to represent these views to those making strategic decisions for local services.

"This effort forms part of our placemaking and community infrastructure work that aims to deliver a range of facilities as the Garden City develops.”

The pharmacy will take up residency near the existing Co-op store that opened recently in Castle Hill and it is hoped it will be able to serve residents by early summer.

The successful application was made by pharmacy chain Delmergate, who run multiple branches across Kent, including in Dartford and Medway.

Jayesh Patel, managing director of Delmergate said: "This is the result of three years hard work and we are delighted with the outcome.

"We hope that we will have the full support of local residents when we open next year and look forward to serving the community of Ebbsfleet."

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