NHS bosses have not ruled out revamping Colne’s existing health centre as a possible solution to an overcrowding crisis.

Earlier this year the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that proposals to replace the town’s Market Street surgery had been put on hold by cash-strapped NHS East Lancashire.

But since then trust bosses have been in talks over how cramped conditions at the health centre can be alleviated.

Part of the solution could be to sell all or part of the former Kwik Save site, in Craddock Road, which had been earmarked for a new health hub.

An extension to the current centre, where GPs have a parking area, is another principal option.

Trust leaders are also in the hunt for a private sector partner, including firms which may want to build supported housing units or other health market ventures, on the old supermarket land.

Any final decision on the Colne project is not going to be made by the former primary care trust. Instead a new GP consortium is lined up to assume control of frontline health services.

Coun George Askew, Colne area committee chairman, said: “We would welcome any investment in our health centre.

“But it is such a pity that we were led to believe that we would be getting a new centre. So much time and money has been wasted. It would be a shame if we had to settle for a lesser option.”