Community leaders have reluctantly agreed to take a 25-year lease for a health centre in Sudbury, accusing the NHS of "holding a gun to their heads".

Hardwicke House Group Practice (HHGP) GP partners have stated they are no longer able to commit to a 25-year lease for a new medical centre near Kingfisher Leisure Centre without break options, which developers Assura Plc will not agree to.

The NHS asked Babergh District Council to take the head lease and grant a sublease to HHGP – the course of action approved through Monday's unanimous council vote.

Leader of the council John Ward said: “I think we all agree this is one of the most difficult decisions we have had to take.

“On the one hand, we want to see a new medical centre in Sudbury. On the other, we are having to shoulder some of the financial risk – albeit small."

He said the move had not been suggested at the start of the process and the NHS was now "effectively holding a gun to our heads" by saying it won’t agree to anything more than a 15-year lease.

He added: “If we do not assist, then there won’t be a new medical centre for Sudbury and Assura will have lost a lot of money and time.

“I am quite appalled to be honest, but what can we do? We cannot just walk away from this.

“The system seems completely broken at the moment.”

HHGP has been working with Assura for more than eight years to identify a place to move Hardwicke House and Meadow Lane GP surgeries.

An NHS spokesperson said of the lease problem: “It isn’t a position we want to find ourselves in, and the easy thing for the council to do would be to just walk away.

“It was common practice for GP surgeries about 10 or 20 years ago to enter into 25-year leases because of the climate the NHS was operating in – with regards to the certainty of the future of general practice contracts.

“It’s the current uncertainty around these which has led to GPs in many areas to be wary of committing their own personal liability into the future.”

Councillor Simon Barrett said: “At what point does a district council’s responsibility become providing healthcare facilities? That is what we are being asked to do.

“To me at the moment, it doesn’t look like the doctors are providing for their patients."

The new centre is expected to start operating in Summer 2024.