New West Suffolk Hospital gets the green light
It will be in Bury St Edmunds
Last updated 1st Dec 2022
A new, larger West Suffolk Hospital has been given the go-ahead for Bury St Edmunds after a split vote by councillors.
The public need for a new hospital was weighed against fears about emergency access and ecological harm at West Suffolk Council’s development control committee today, leading the chairman to cast the deciding vote in favour.
A new hospital of up to 100,000 square metres will replace the existing 44,000 square metre West Suffolk and be located on the Hardwick Manor site on Hardwick Lane.
A full planning application to change the use of Hardwick Manor from residential to health-related was also approved yesterday.
Cllr Andrew Drummond, who recommended approval, said: “The care you get at West Suffolk Hospital is fantastic. But the building is past its use-by date and that will inevitably affect services.”
The current hospital was built in the 1970s and has structural defects associated with the RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) used in its roof and walls.
It is expected the current building would not last far beyond 2030 and government funding was gained to replace it under the New Hospitals Programme – with a commitment to have it built by 2030.
The application site of approximately 54 hectares is owned by West Suffok Foundation Trust (WSFT). This includes 6.2 hectares to the west of Horsecroft Road and south of Gypsy Lane to be used for a temporary construction compound during construction.
The area of the site in which the hospital currently stands is allocated as hospital and hospice land; the remaining area is countryside land.
Cllr Jason Crooks said: “This is a real shame. The applicant has chosen to destroy parkland that’s hundreds of years old and it is completely irreplaceable when we all know there are better alternatives.
“It is so frustrating. I don’t think I can vote for this because of the destruction of the parkland.”
Most of the Hardwick Manor site is wood pasture parkland – which is a UK BAP (biodiversity action plan) priority habitat – meaning there will be negative ecological impacts even with the changed access.
According to the officers’ report, the development is expected to result in the loss of 11.5 hectares of waxcap grassland from the Hardwick Manor site; this type of grassland is classified as irreplaceable habitat.
A compensation strategy will involve the planting of at least 115 hectares of waxcap grassland/wood pasture in another location but this will take decades to develop. The site for compensation must be secured before work on the hospital starts on the site.
The officers’ report accepted that “harm to ecology cannot be avoided”.
Another divisive point was the fact that the plans include just one access for cars into the site. Some councillors believed this could cause problems for ambulances needing to reach the hospital quickly.
The main entrance and exit for cars will be from the Hardwick Lane frontage and the existing main exit from the current site will be used as access for buses.
The owner of the land to the west of the proposed site said: “I support the principle of a new hospital and understand the need.
“What I don’t understand is the acceptance of the scheme in highways terms. It has a single access road – no general hospital in the east has less than three access roads.
“We can deliver a secondary access to prevent problems in the future.”
The East of England Ambulance Service accept the application, noting the proposed widening of the internal road to allow space for two cars and an ambulance to pass and the contingency plan that emergency vehicles could use the public cycle/footway if the primary route is blocked.
The application has been changed since it was first submitted earlier this year. Importantly, a proposed new roundabout to serve the site from Hardwick Lane has been replaced with a light-controlled junction.
This led Suffolk County Council’s highways authority to move from objection to acceptance, and pleased the East of England Ambulance Service.
An electric shuttle bus transporting people to the hospital building was also added, and the application includes the creation or improvement of five walking and cycling routes from the surrounding areas to the hospital – to help ease the highways and environmental impacts of car travel.
The officers’ report accepted the proposal would still create “significant” amounts of traffic but stated this would not lead to unacceptable or severe impacts on the local road network.
A further change to the original application was the proposal of different accesses to Hardwick Manor to avoid felling veteran trees – those that are considered important because of their age or biological, aesthetic or cultural interest.
Today’s decision allows WSFT to submit a business plan as part as an application for funding from central government.
The trust was selected to receive government funding for a new hospital under the New Hospitals Programme, so it is guaranteed funding – but the amount of money it will gain is uncertain.
The hospital must be built by 2030 to gain the funding; the construction phase of the hospital is expected to last around three years.
WSFT is one of the largest employers in Bury St Edmunds; its annual report for 2021-22 showed combined staff salaries and wages were £129 million.
The Suffolk Observatory found that 21 percent of West Suffolk’s population is over 65, which is 2.4 percent higher than the proportion of England and Wales according to the Census 2021.
Hardwick Manor was given grade two-listed status in February this year. The council’s conservation officer and the Suffolk Preservation Society agreed the negative impact to heritage would be less than substantial with a high degree of harm, and that these harms would be outweighed by the public benefits of a new hospital.