The decision on whether to approve the construction of the proposed Sutton Medical Centre is likely to be made on Wednesday night after a protracted debate that took place last month.

Should the proposal be granted, then the Medical Centre would be built over the abandoned Henderson Hospital on Homeland Drive. The Henderson Hospital has not been in use for a number of years and development of some kind has always been probable.

Upwards of 100 objectors joined last month's audience ranging from local residents to local politicians, the majority of whom made their presence audible. The audience were visibly concerned by the appeal's outcome, and were more than once accused of heckling by the panel of councillors.

Local residents are concerned that a medical centre in the area would bring a considerable volume of traffic, adding to the already severe 'bottleneck' of traffic that passes the Shanklin Estate. An increase in the number of vehicles in the area increases the likelihood of road accidents, especially in mornings and afternoons when a considerable number of schoolchildren travel to and from the Avenue Primary School and Overton Grange Secondary School. Limited parking spaces at the facility are one potential drawback of the proposal and one councillor pointed out that visitors would be likely to resort to the parking spaces on local residents' roads.

Conservative councillor Tony Shields, of Sutton South, noted to the rest of the panel that Sutton Council do not own the land outright, a factor that might be decisive to the appeal's outcome.

Such was the interest in the case, that dozens were forced to either watch from outside the door or to listen from the corridor. In an attempt to avoid a repeat of this, the case will continue at a higher-capacity venue, the Europa Gallery in Sutton library at 7:30pm on the 8th January.