The NHS has moved a Houlton health centre for up to 12,000 patients to full business case. Clifton Road Surgery would run it, but planning waits for 2027/28.
Houlton’s long-promised GP surgery has moved a step closer. The NHS has approved plans for a health and wellbeing centre there to go to full business case.
Rugby Borough Council announced the progress on 25 September. That was two days after Full Council agreed an amended motion on GP provision at Houlton, which began as a 293-signature residents’ petition we reported on the night.
What has been agreed
NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissions GP services, not the council. According to the council’s release, the ICB has:
- approved the scheme to move to the full business case stage
- approved, in principle, the extra running costs a new surgery would need
- chosen Clifton Road Surgery to run a branch practice from the new centre, while keeping its existing surgery open
The ICB is working with Houlton’s developer, Urban&Civic, on the design.
How big it would be
The centre would be built in two phases:
| Phase | Clinical rooms | Patient capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 7 | 6,000 |
| Phase 1 and 2 | 15 | 12,000 |
The timetable, and what it does not say
The aim is to get the full business case approved during the current financial year, which ends on 31 March 2027. A planning application and detailed design work would then follow in 2027/28.
No date has been given for building work to start or for the surgery to open. The timetable in the release stops at planning.
Money is the open question. The council says the ICB has no capital funding to build the centre. Urban&Civic is looking at other ways to pay for it with the ICB, including building the centre itself and leasing it to the NHS long term.
The land is already secured. The Section 106 agreement for Houlton provides 0.3 hectares of serviced land for a GP surgery.
Earlier than the legal trigger
This is the part that matters most for Houlton residents. As we reported on 23 September, the council’s own 2016 scrutiny minutes recorded that the permanent surgery would come when 3,100 homes were occupied. On the developer’s and the council’s own figures, roughly 1,500 to 1,900 homes had been built.
Cllr Isabelle McKenzie, the council’s portfolio holder for Growth and Investment, confirmed that trigger in the release. “The land for the health facility was not due to be handed over to the NHS until 3,100 homes were occupied,” she said. “We are delighted that facilities at Houlton are being developed ahead of schedule.”
Cllr Maggie O’Rourke, portfolio holder for partnerships, health and wellbeing, called it “welcome and long-awaited progress for Houlton”. She thanked Cllrs Kedward and Daly, who brought the motion. She said the council would “press for the agreed timetable to be maintained”.
The council has not published the wording of the amended motion. Its release does not say which parts of the original motion survived, such as the written update to all councillors within six months.
Help at existing surgeries meanwhile
The ICB has also paid for extra space at two existing Rugby practices while Houlton waits:
- Whitehall Medical Practice has added six clinical rooms since 2021
- Clifton Road Surgery has finished two phases of internal improvements and is planning five more clinical rooms, subject to approval
Clifton Road Surgery’s own website shows how stretched it already is. It has around 1,600 patients booked into its flu clinic on Thursday 1 October, and it closes from 12.30pm that day for staff training.
What it means for you
If you live at Houlton, nothing changes yet. There is still no surgery at Houlton and no opening date. Stay registered with your current practice.
What has changed is that the NHS has committed to a named operator, a size and a timetable up to the planning stage. The next checkpoint is full business case approval by 31 March 2027. The planning application, when it comes, will go on Rugby’s planning register, and we will cover it in our Rugby planning news.
Sources: Council welcomes progress on new GP surgery for Houlton, Rugby Borough Council, 25 September 2026; Clifton Road Surgery; Brooke Overview and Scrutiny Committee minutes, 13 October 2016.
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