AN environmentally-friendly medical centre costing more than £2m has been given the go-ahead.

Chester-le-Street district councillors have approved plans for the Sacriston Surgery, which will be built on the former swimming pool site, in Front Street, and will be three times the size of the present building, near the crossroads.

The centre will incorporate a dental suite, speech and language therapy suite and primary care facilities, as well as car parking and landscaped surroundings.

There will be a plush interior and the practice has established a focus group to come up with ideas for artwork and furnishings.

Work is expected to start in June and doctors hope to move in the following spring.

The facilities, which will replace the surgery next to the crossroads at the southern end of the village, will have solar panels and solar tubes to provide power for heat and light, as well as a system for harvesting rainwater to flush toilets.

Practice manager Tony Gallimore said: "We anticipate it will be the most sustainable practice in the country.

"We are looking to produce as much as heat as possible, and we want to be able to produce some of our own light to reduce emissions and help the environment."

Panels have also been formed to look at ways IT can help improve systems to make it more efficient for patients as well as ways to make life easier for disabled people.

The practice serves people in Sacriston, Langley, Edmondsley, Framwellgate Moor, Witton Gilbert and Nettleworth.

The practice is in talks with the Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust (PCT) and other groups to decide how to make the best out of the existing practice.

A report to the planning committee recommending approval said the "contemporary design of the building itself, together with the detailed hard and soft landscaping schemes represent a significant investment and fabric of Sacriston".