The NHS and Lewes District Council have agreed initial funding to study a new Seaford health centre on land including the Richmond Road car park.
A new health centre for Seaford has moved a step closer. Lewes District Council and the NHS have agreed initial funding to work out whether it can be built, and where.
The study will look at land that includes the council’s Richmond Road car park. The council announced the funding on 15 October, jointly with NHS Surrey and Sussex Integrated Care Board, which commissions GP services in the area.
No amount has been published, and nothing has been approved to build yet.
What has been agreed
The council and the NHS say they will work together on “the next phase of the project and the development of a more detailed business case”. The money pays for:
- a feasibility study and due diligence on the site
- an assessment of land that includes the Richmond Road car park
- a detailed business case for the centre
The study’s findings will go to the district council’s Cabinet “later in the year”. The council says they will then support a bid for “future funding through national processes”. In other words, the money to build it has still to be found.
How this started
In January, NHS Sussex and Seaford’s GPs asked the council to explore long-term solutions for GP and wider health services in the town. At that stage the plan was described as a possible new home for Seaford Medical Practice. The GPs were bidding for an NHS grant to pay for a study of different sites, with Richmond Road car park already named as one option.
The funding announced now pays for that same kind of feasibility work. The project is now called a Neighbourhood Health Centre: the NHS’s term for a building that puts GP, community health, care and wellbeing services under one roof.
What the council and the NHS said
Councillor Zoe Nicholson, the leader of Lewes District Council, said: “This is the best news possible for residents in Seaford who have waited patiently for the new and modern healthcare facilities that will make such a positive difference to their lives.”
She pointed to Wellbeing Square in Newhaven, the £21 million health hub the council delivered with the NHS, which opened in September. “I have no doubt we can do the same in Seaford,” she said.
Amy Galea, Chief Commissioning Officer for neighbourhood health and partnerships at NHS Surrey and Sussex, called it “an exciting step forward for Seaford”. She said the study “will help us understand how this opportunity can best support local people now and in the future.”
Seaford’s GPs in numbers
Seaford has two GP practices, both in the Seaford Primary Care Network. NHS England’s patient register for 1 October 2026 shows:
| Practice | Patients registered, 1 Oct 2026 | A year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| Seaford Medical Practice (BN25 1DH) | 18,216 | 18,179 |
| Old School Surgery (BN25 1HH) | 8,760 | 9,179 |
| Both practices | 26,976 | 27,358 |
The year-earlier figures come from the October 2025 register.
The NHS’s GP workforce figures for August 2026 count staff at practice level. Between them, the two practices had the equivalent of 13.4 full-time qualified permanent GPs. That figure leaves out trainee GPs and locums.
That works out at about 2,020 patients for each full-time GP across the town. The figure differs a lot between the two practices:
- Seaford Medical Practice: 18,251 patients and 9.5 full-time GPs, about 1,913 patients per GP
- Old School Surgery: 8,806 patients and 3.9 full-time GPs, about 2,285 patients per GP
- NHS Surrey and Sussex ICB: about 2,047 patients per GP across its 261 practices with data
- England: about 2,212 patients per GP across all practices with data
These are our calculations from the NHS practice-level file. The workforce file counts patients on a slightly different date to the October register, so its totals are a little higher. Neither file measures how hard it is to get an appointment, and the council’s announcements talk about modern buildings and joined-up services rather than GP numbers.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Both surgeries carry on as now. Keep booking through your own practice.
- Richmond Road car park stays open for now. It has 65 spaces and an eight-hour maximum stay, according to the council’s 2026 charges sheet. No change to it has been proposed. Our parking guide lists the other Seaford car parks.
- The next decision is the council’s Cabinet. It will consider the study “later in the year”. We will report what it says.
The council says “further information will be shared as the project develops.”
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