CIVIC chiefs are under renewed pressure to sever the development of a new doctors' surgery from the Silver Hill scheme.

More than 400 people have this week signed a petition urging St Clements Surgery be built independently of the controversial project amid fears that patients could be left in "limbo".

Practice chiefs have reassured patients while Winchester City Council rubbished the claims.

Council leader Cllr Stephen Godfrey said: "The developer's construction programme for the Silver Hill scheme takes account of this and would not require vacant possesion of the St Clements Surgery site until after completion of the new surgery.

"If the Silver Hill scheme is allowed to move forward on the planned programme, a new surgery with better facilities can therefore be provided by August 2017, with no interruption to medical provision for patients."

The overcrowded practice is due to be replaced as part of the £150 million city centre scheme, but planning permission to rebuild it on Upper Brook Street car park expired in July.

It has led to fears that the new practice will not be ready when its predecessor is knocked down for Silver Hill.

But the issue is set to be debated again at next month's full council following a petition by patient Gill Davies, who says the Guildhall has "no effective plan" for the surgery.

Ms Davies, a supporter of the anti-Silver Hill Winchester Deserves Better campaign, said: "The building of a new surgery needs to start at least two years before the Silver Hill development commences, so that the doctors can move from the old surgery to the new one overnight, and continue to provide a seamless and excellent service to their patients."

Developer TH Real Estate had been expected to build the surgery early in the project, giving doctors time to move.

Greater clarity is expected when the firm, formerly known as Henderson, unveils its building programme next month.

Kathy Bracher, business manager at St Clements Surgery, said: "The practice is assured that our new premises will now proceed in a timely way and that the practice will be accommodated in modern new premises before Hendersons need to come on site and demolish the building and surrounding buildings.  

"After far too many years of delay on this scheme, and finding ourselves surrounded by vacant buildings, our patients will share our excitement about this progress."

Earlier this month Steve Tilbury, the council's corporate director, said splitting the surgery from Silver Hill could delay the move and threaten the surgery's viability.

He told a meeting: "A new surgery can't be developed as a separate project because the business case doesn't take into account that without the development of Silver Hill, there's no buyer for the doctors' surgery and therefore there's nobody to move them along."

Seeking a new deal would further delay the move, he added.

"We can't be certain, as I understand things, that the NHS would sanction the new surgery [if a new buyer is sought]," he said. "It will cost significantly more in rent."

Doctors have long been frustrated by delays to the relocation, first discussed more than a decade ago. Many rooms in the 1970s practice are less than half the size required by modern NHS standards.