Old Post Office to be filled with new healthcare use as Anstey dentists expands

A village’s former Post Office branch could soon have a new use that might ease pressure on overstretched local healthcare services. Charnwood Borough Council has received plans to extend the Anstey Family Dental Centre into the neighbouring building, which was previously a shop housing the village’s Post Office counter.

The counter was closed last year after the Royal Mail revealed the shop, on Bradgate Road, had been ‘withdrawn’ for Post Office use. Residents were relieved when a new home was found for village Post Office services in the Londis on the Nook, just down the road.

Councillor Deborah Taylor – borough councillor for Anstey – warned in January this year at a plans committee meeting that more than 1,000 homes were in the pipeline for land in and around the village. Objections to proposed housing schemes for Anstey and the surrounding area have often mentioned pressure on local services and healthcare facilities.

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Applicant Mr Shiekh, of Nationwide Healthcare Providers, submitted plans to the council which read: “The proposals meet a local need given the increase in the number of houses planned in the area with more dental capacity required in the healthcare sector.”

The proposals would see ground and first-floor extensions to the front and rear of the two buildings to combine them into one and provide five extra dental surgery rooms, as well as training rooms. A wall at the rear of the former post office would be extended to create a staff courtyard and bin storage area for the surgery.

Applicant Nationwide Healthcare Providers, which owns the dental centre, said the business will remain open while work is carried out should the application be approved. The plans add: “The proposed alterations and extensions of the practice aims enable the growth of this successful dental practice to meet significant increased local demand.”

Documents for the application can be seen on the council’s planning portal, and comments and objections can be made until Friday 14 July.