COMMUNITY leaders in Thornbury have met with consultants appointed to take the Thornbury Hospital development project to its next phase.
Town councillors want the whole of the present health centre and hospital land to be redeveloped as an integrated site and are calling for an extra-care housing scheme built alongside the new health facilities.
They also told the consultants - appointed by South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust - that they expected to see the same number of beds in the new hospital as there are now and a better range of outpatient, diagnostic and therapy services.
advertisement
Cllr Shirley Holloway said it was a wonderful opportunity for Thornbury to have a high quality development.
"We want to see a first class hospital together with a state of the art health centre where GPs and other health professionals can work closely together," she said.
Initial plans for a new combined hospital and health centre showed that land would be available for further development.
"Any surplus land should be used to benefit our older residents who may just need some extra help to continue to live independently," said Cllr Holloway.
"We hope that the health authorities and councils will continue to work together to provide what could and should be a flagship scheme."
Cllr Maggie Tyrrell, who was also at the meeting, said "The town council has always said that any land surplus to the requirements of the new hospital should be used for the benefit of the community rather than simply sold to the highest bidder for standard housing.
"This site would be ideal for a housing scheme for elderly people that would provide care in their own homes and could also provide services into the community."
The Hospital Project Steering Group will continue to meet and once the consultants have done some initial work are expected to consult with local people before making final decisions on any scheme.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
