MALDON'S MP has backed a development that would include a replacement for ailing St Peter's Hospital.
John Whittingdale showed support for the proposals during a Commons debate on September 3.
Kensington & Edinburgh Estates held a consultation in May on plans to build a new "health facility" with 320 homes, shops, a care home and offices at Maldon Hall Farm, off Spital Road.
Addressing the house, Mr Whittingdale said: "Mid Essex has one of the most severe financial problems of any area in the country. We have to look at more imaginative solutions. It is unlikely that the local health service will be able to afford a new hospital.
"The scheme offers an even greater potential benefit as not only will a new hospital probably be cheaper to run than the very old existing hospital, but it will free up the site, which will be available to the NHS for potential sale for development. It is a win-win situation: Maldon will get a brand-new hospital and the houses that there is no doubt we need, and the NHS will have additional resources and a hospital that is more up to date and cheaper to run."
The developers stated that they will submit an application "in the not too distant future" for the plan which, they say, could create 200 jobs.
Simon Hoare, managing director of Community Connect, acting on behalf of Kensington & Edinburgh Estate, said: "This is a great opportunity for the land to stay in the public sector and to gain a new purpose-built health centre that should last for years."
At an overview and scrutiny meeting last month, a number of district councillors expressed support – but health bosses did not seem to be in agreement about how to move forward.
A stumbling block was the reluctance of Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (MECCG) to guarantee contracts to provide care from a new building as they must save £40 million in the next five years.
Mr Whittingdale, who marched on Whitehall in defence of St Peter's when its closure was suggested in the early 1990s, said: "The Maldon district, like many, has a severe housing need. The development of new housing will bring with it a new hospital for the NHS, built by the developers at zero capital cost."
But former town councillor and NHS worker Tom Kelly is wary of private investment. "Will the building remain in the developer's hands?" he asked. "Similar builds have fallen into problems and bankrupted local NHS trusts. The land and building must belong to the public."
Replacing St Peter's Hospital has been on the agenda for more than ten years. A special committee formed in April last year and tasked with collaborating with the MECCG to push forward the plans for a new hospital has since stalled.
The Blackwater Patient Participation Group is hosting an open evening on October 17 at the Plume School in Fambridge Road from 7 to 9pm. It will take the form of a Question Time scenario with MP John Whittingdale, Louise Irvine from the National Health Action Party, Mid Essex Hospitals Trust chief executive Paul Forden, and representatives from NHS England and the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group.
