Liam Byrne MP today welcomed a breakthrough in his local campaign for new health centres after Birmingham City Council formally awarded the NHS the crucial land next to the Leyland Club on Alum Rock Road .

The Hodge Hill MP, backed by hundreds of local residents and businesses, has been campaigning for two years for a brand new health centre to serve a community that suffers some of the worst health in the UK . Infant mortality rates in the area are amongst the highest in the country.

The huge 1.7 acre site will let the NHS develop a new centre for local doctors next door to what was once the ruined Leyland Club. The NHS plans to move key hospital services to the centre including a host of diagnostic and screening services, such as breast screening, so local residents do not have to travel as far as the hospital.

Liam said: 

“This is the breakthrough we've been fighting for. We've put up too long with what was a local eyesore - but now, at last, the city has given the green light to meet the demands of local residents; a 21st century NHS round the clock and round the corner.”

The news was broken at the monthly meeting of planning and health service chiefs set up by Mr Byrne to drive through the delivery of three local health centres in his Hodge Hill constituency. Design of the new centre is scheduled to begin in January.