NHS bosses have announced they are to scrap plans for a health and wellbeing centre in Teignmouth after costs spiralled to more than double.

Four years since the plans were put forward, the original estimate for the building on land in the town centre of £8 has now rocketed to £19 due to construction costs and the cost of borrowing calling into question the scheme’s ‘value for money’. 

Since 2020 when the NHS first consulted on plans to relocate services from Teignmouth Hospital to a new building, the scheme has attracted fierce opposition. 

It has also been dogged with delays and ‘challenges’ including the Covid pandemic, a ‘complex’ planning process and Devon County Council’s scrutiny of the scheme. 

NHS Devon has recommended to its board which meets next week that £9million of limited capital resources designated for urgent remedial work across the NHS estate in Devon are not diverted to the Teignmouth Health and Wellbeing Centre. 

The capital pot is already inadequate to cover the cost of high priority schemes and essential remedial works across the ageing NHS estate in Devon.

If Board members approve the recommendations, it will bring an end to the Teignmouth Health and Wellbeing Centre project in its current form. 

An NHS spokesman said: ‘Importantly, it will also allow the NHS to fast-track work to support Channel View Medical Group, which was due to relocate from its two town centre bases into the new building. 

A solution is needed as the lease on one of Channel View’s sites – in the Den Crescent – ends on 31 March 2025.

Steve Moore, Chief Executive Officer of NHS Devon, said: ‘I want to say sorry to people in Teignmouth and especially the patients and staff of Channel View Medical Group, who were looking forward to the opening of the new health and wellbeing centre.

‘We have a legal duty to ensure local people have access to general practice services and I can reassure you that we are absolutely committed to finding a sustainable solution and creating a brighter future for primary care in Teignmouth.’

The plan was for Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust to take a head lease on the centre from the developer and pay rent while sub-letting the majority of the building to the GP practice.

TSDFT Chief Executive Liz Davenport said: ‘We’re very sorry that the scheme now looks unlikely to proceed after so much work has gone into it. We were confident it could be delivered but the project has faced procedural and financial obstacles at every turn and, combined, they now look insurmountable.

‘We will continue to provide local services in Teignmouth from our existing buildings until sustainable alternatives are found.’