was 79.3). According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, in 2010 the district had a total of 12 GP practices with a total 31 GPs serving 54,956 registered patients, resulting in an average GP list size of 1,773, compared to the Northern Ireland average of 1,608. The district had its own hospital, located in Banbridge, until December 1996 when inpatient services were ended. Craigavon Area Hospital now deals with the majority of primary care cases from the district. In January 2002, the former district council paid £725,000 for the former site of the hospital with the aim of turning it into a Community Health Village. In March 2011, the-then Minister for Health, Michael McGimpsey, approved plans for the start of construction of a new Community Treatment and Care Centre and Day Care facility in the grounds of the Community Health Village. This new facility, which will join the already relocated Banbridge Group Surgery, will cost an estimated £16.5 million and be home to around 220 staff. Environmental profile Since the late 1990s more and more attention has been paid both by the local council and residents to enhancing the district’s environmental profile. Over the past decade Banbridge district has repeatedly recorded one of the highest levels of recycling in Northern Ireland. In 2009–2010, for example, almost 52% of household waste was recycled/composted. In June 2009, a bring-and-buy reuse shop, Restore, was also opened by the local council in an effort to reduce waste in the district. In May 2012 the council beat Warwickshire County Council and Cardiff City Council to win the best Local Authority Recycling Initiative at the ninth annual Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management. In 2007 a biodiversity audit was carried out and in late 2007 a biodiversity action plan was published. Like the rest of Northern Ireland, woodlands make up only a small percentage of the former district’s land cover (according to the Forestry Commission only 6.5% of Northern Ireland was forested in 2010). In recent years public funds have been committed to improving access to and the quality of outdoor spaces, including for example Solitude Park in Banbridge, the Newry Canal Towpath which ran through the western part of the district, and Slieve Croob taking in the Legananny Dolmen and the Finnis souterrain (known locally as Binder's Cove). Given the unfavourable topography, the district was not home to any wind turbines,