FOI2026/1948

Please provide the following information held by NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board relating to the proposed housing allocation known as JPA 1.2 / GMA 1.2 / Northern Gateway / Atom Valley (Simister and Bowlee) proposed 1,550 new homes:

1. Current GP list sizes and any known capacity pressures in the practices that serve Simister, Bowlee, Rhodes and Heywood Old Road.
2. Any assessment, modelling, capacity study or correspondence the ICB holds regarding the impact of the proposed housing numbers at this allocation on:
   • Primary care / GP capacity
   • Community health services
   • Hospital demand (including the Northern Care Alliance)
3. Any formal responses, concerns or submissions the ICB (or its predecessor bodies) has made to Bury Council, Rochdale Council, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, or the Places for Everyone examination about the health service implications of this allocation.
4. Any assessment of the cumulative impact of JPA 1.2 together with other Northern Gateway / Atom Valley allocations on primary and secondary care capacity in this area.

1. Patients can register at any practice regardless of where they live, however, as is depicted below there are no practices in Bury (border of Bury in orange) within the immediate vicinity of the Simister, Bowlee or Heywood Old Road.  

The closest practices are:

The Birches – 3883

Greylands – 1785

Unsworth – 7465

Whittaker Lane – 7039

Longfield – 4743

Fairfax – 14224

We are currently working with 5 out of the 6 practices around estates solutions to support with existing capacity constraints.

2. NHS Property Services Planning Team are currently undertaking capacity assessments of primary care facilities impacted by the Simister Bowlee allocation site and are currently engaged with the Council on this.
3. NHS GM estates team engages a town planning service from NHS Property Service to coordinate and respond to relevant planning consultations on our behalf. A response was submitted to the Simister Bowlee Draft Development Framework SPD in March 2026 via Bury Council with a request for consideration on healthcare infrastructure.
4. NHS Property Services Planning Team are currently undertaking capacity assessments of primary care facilities impacted by the Simister Bowlee allocation site and are currently engaged with the Council on this.