Bowling green at risk as Elmbridge Borough Council explores plans for new health centre
A bowling green is at risk of being flattened to pave the way for a new NHS health hub.
Walton-on-Thames Bowling Club has been running for over a hundred years – but now the centre is under threat from a potential development.
Elmbridge Borough Council are currently in talks with the local NHS team about selling part of Elm Grove recreational land to make way for a new health hub, replacing Walton-on-Thames Community Hospital.
The Eco Hub and the bowling club may be forced to move.
But Michael Atkinson, treasurer of the Walton Bowling Club, said: “We’ve been here since 1922, it’s our 103rd year.
“It would be an awful shame to wipe away all of that history.”
He said the group of volunteers who run the club feel like the “custodians” of the green and want to keep it in good condition for the next generation.
Michael said the bowling club is “not just a stuffy, old-fashioned bowling club. People dressed in white, with old men and old women who play once a week. We are out there and doing stuff”.
He reeled off the club’s busy social calendar of summer events, 150 fixtures, open days, away days and visits from the scout group.
“It’s a really good sport to get into,” Michael told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It keeps you fit, very good for mental well-being and we’re a very social bunch.”
Joining the club in his retirement, Michael said he’s seen the club grow from strength to strength with membership increasing 46 per cent last year.
From the oldest member Derek who turns 93 this year, to the youngest player, 11-year-old Josh, the bowling club firmly believes anyone can play the sport.
Some of the members are worried if they didn’t have the bowling club, they would lose that whole community, the social aspect and the circle of friends they have now.
Not just a summer sport, the people meet to play indoor bowls in the winter season in what could be one of the only times older folk leave their house for some social interaction all week.
Local NHS service, North West Surrey Alliance, want to offer more joined-up health care and wellbeing services from the Elm Grove site in the heart of Walton’s community.
Leader of the council, Mike Rollings said: “This hub would offer much needed GP services, maternity services, mental health provision, dermatology specialists, rehabilitation and many other preventative and well-being services and will future-proof those services for a growing population.”
Initially the council said they would build a new bowling green for the Elm Grove group, Michael claimed.
But a few months down the line Elmbridge Council U-turned.
“It’s shocking,” Michael said. “If we have to vacate we have to close.”
He explained there is no other suitable alternative site in Elmbridge and claimed the council wanted the bowling club to merge with one of the others in the borough.
“You wouldn’t ask Manchester United or Manchester City to merge,” Michael said.
“Same with bowling. We don’t want to go to Hersham and they don’t want to join us.”
Recognised for its offer of social wellbeing to the surrounding suburb, the council has even listed the bowling club as an ‘asset of community value’.
Councillor Gregor Macgregor said: “There is a risk the development won’t happen and we will end up without a bowls club and without a health hub.”
The Independent member for Walton Central explained he felt any investment could be “tricky” to finance because of the current economic climate.
“I’m not certain this will happen,” he warned.
Cllr Macgregor was at pains to point out that he thought the health hub was a “really good thing”.
He also stressed conversion work on Walton hospital could mean it can remain as a hub, rather than taking over a wholly new site and building from scratch.
Campaigners have also raised the alarm at the “madness” of pulling down a fully functioning hospital which has a larger site than the proposed relocation.
Leaflets speculate the Walton Community Hospital site, if demolished, could be regenerated into new housing.
Cllr Rollings said: “The Council is continuing to work with the bowling club to find a solution.
“The proposal has been subject to public consultation by the Borough Council and a decision as to whether to go ahead will be made at a Cabinet meeting of the Council on April 30.”
A spokesperson from North West Surrey Alliance: “Surrey Heartlands NHS and Elmbridge Borough Council are exploring Elm Grove as a potential site to develop a community health facility.
“The site provides the opportunity for the people of Walton on Thames and the surrounding area to have a first class health infrastructure and receive integrated health services, improving outcomes for residents.”