A new programme has been launched to address mounting pressures on the NHS and community services in the area.

James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, has cautioned that escalating strain originates from ongoing housing growth that outpaces vital service upgrades, particularly at doctors’ surgeries.

Mr MacCleary said the current situation for patients locally has become more difficult than at any previous time, with healthcare provision under considerable pressure and NHS performance benchmarks repeatedly failing to be achieved.

The region requires significant investment in local services, particularly GPs, to shorten waiting periods and guarantee patients obtain the treatment they desperately need.

Through his infrastructure-first strategy, Mr MacCleary is calling for new or expanded GP surgeries to be operational at the same time as the first homes within new housing schemes are sold.

He indicated that construction companies ought not simply to fund these facilities but also obtain the GP partnership contract or cover the costs of employed doctors to prevent new residents from burdening existing practices.

The programme forms part of the Liberal Democrats’ wider plan to preserve general practice and ensure every patient can book an appointment within seven days, or within 24 hours for urgent conditions.

Analysis carried out by the Liberal Democrats shows that 1,300 general practitioner surgeries have shut their doors across the nation over the past decade, from 2015 to 2025.

Mr MacCleary noted however that the problem reaches further than medical practices.

Throughout his constituency, in places such as Ringmer, local people are experiencing the consequences of growth without matching infrastructure – including busy roads, unreliable bus and train services, insufficient school places, overstretched water supply and drainage networks unable to cope.

In districts like this area, fresh housing developments often arrive with guarantees about amenities that ultimately never materialise.

This is simply not good enough.

Councils and local communities must have the power to hold developers to account and demand the infrastructure they were initially assured of.

With this in mind, I am bringing forward this campaign to revive our local health service and ensure new homes consistently come with the services residents need – not only GPs, but all vital infrastructure required for people to live comfortably.