Dental surgery saved after plan for flat rejected

A dental surgery which serves 1,500 patients - including more than 150 children on the NHS - has been saved after councillors rejected plans to turn it into flat.

Cotman House Dental Surgery in St Martin at Palace Plain, Norwich, was under threat of closure after planning officers recommended the change of use by its landlord.

The proposal prompted more than 100 objections, with more than 20 patients turning out to support the practice's only dentist, Jonathan Frost, at a meeting.

"If this community facility is lost, then so is the democratic process," he told city councillors.

"There is no other similar practice in this area," he added, explaining that he had many elderly and vulnerable patients and some with complex needs.

A report had stated other dentists were situated nearby, but it was argued that these were not like-for-like.

One patient told the meeting: "The thought of leaving Cotman House, and with it the professional care, support and kindness of Jonathan and his team, is too devastating to contemplate."

Several referred to health secretary Wes Streeting's comment that East Anglia was the "Sahara of dental deserts", with one man saying it would be "criminal" to get rid of an oasis in that desert.

After hearing the patients' pleas – often met with loud applause – councillors questioned why the application had been brought to committee in the first place.

They voted unanimously to refuse the plans.

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