A controversial planning application for a new private dentist in St Margarets will be decided on this Wednesday.

Dr Samantha Laycock and Dr Hetal Patel have applied to build the surgery at 161 St Margarets Road, Twickenham, just two doors down from another practice Amber Dental, in an area where there are 15 dental practices within a 1.5 mile radius.

The application is proving divisive, with 62 objections and 77 comments of support.

Many argue a new surgery will provide “freedom of choice” and it is clear Dr Laycock, who has been in dentistry for nearly 20 years, has a loyal customer base who travel, sometimes long distances, to see her.

Although there are many practices in the area, some say the waiting times are too long.

Along with this, 230 new homes will be built in St Margarets Road within the next two years, and Dr Laycock and Dr Patel say the “increased footfall will be beneficial to the position of the practice”.

The opposing comments focus on the “over-concentration” of practices in the area and suggest a new private surgery would take away “vital” patients from nearby businesses with some fearing the NHS provision at Amber Dental would be “threatened” as a result.

Owner of Amber Dental Dr Paramjit Panesar said: “This may compromise our ability to provide NHS services.

“I’ve been working with the NHS since 1996 and I’m not likely to agree with anything that compromises people’s ability to access it.”

As well as this, Richmond Council’s Local Plan states that to change the use of a premises, it must be empty for at least two years, whereas the site as only been empty for just under a year.

It states the applicant must “demonstrate that a particular site is no longer viable for employment purposes through providing robust marketing evidence over a two year period”.

The council report said that though this was recognised, the applicants said that they can provide “full evidence” that the demand for office space in the area was “non-existent”.

Dr Panesar said: “I don’t know why this is being ignored.”

In a letter, Dr Laycock and Dr Patel say they are “aware” of the existing practice close to the proposed site but that “it is a smaller surgery with NHS waiting lists and already it is oversubscribed”.

In response, Dr Panesar said their arguments were “erroneous”.

He stated in a letter: “The support letter from Dr Laycock and Dr Patel erroneously states that we are oversubscribed, this is not true.

“Unlike some practices, we have no restrictions on the type of patient we see, fee-paying or non-fee paying adults and children of any age.

“It also states that we have a waiting list which is not true and has never been the case.”

Dr Panesar added: “Had Dr Laycock and Dr Patel approached us for this information, we would have gladly advised them of our current position; instead they have made unfounded statements to support their application.”

Dr Laycock and Dr Patel said in a responding letter that they had in fact contacted all the receptions of dentists in the area.

The planning committee will make the decision in a meeting on Wednesday evening starting at 7.30pm.

What’s your view? Contact: grainne.cuffe@newsquest.co.uk