TOWN councillors have called for more information on plans to move of an Andover doctor’s surgery.

Members of the town council’s assets and communities committee deemed it would be necessary to register an interest to purchase land currently occupied by Andover Health Centre.

It comes after Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust gave notice that they intend to dispose of the area on the War Memorial Hospital site.

The trust insists that this will only take place if the surgery is re-provided at the top end of the site as part of a larger project.

At the meeting on February 14 committee members said that there was a lack of information about what could be done with the land, but councillors agreed by registering an interest it would allow for more information to be released.

Councillor Katherine Bird said: “As far as I am aware they [the trust] haven’t yet received the grant to be able to rebuild Andover Health Centre. They are putting a bid to vacate the health centre and build a new building on the site.

“We haven’t got enough information to make a proper decision. [It] seems to be a sensible first step, register an interest to find out more information as and when it comes along.”

However, questions were raised about the whether there was a clause on the land which would stop certain types of building or change of use, with Councillor Luigi Gregori adding: “What are we going to do with it, the building is quite tired.”

Councillor Barbara Long said that if the authority did not put forward its interest then the next council would be unable to do anything about the land, following the elections on May 2.

Cllr Long added: “It is probably going to be the next council that makes the decision then they couldn’t do anything about it.

“We should register an interest so we are kept in the loop. We might miss the boat if we aren’t careful.”

Talks have gone on for months between the trust, West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and five GP practices in the town about relocating the centre to another part of the hospital.

As the Advertiser previously reported the CCG is seeking to develop a health and wellbeing hub to meet the demands of a growing population.