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Campaigners slam council as hospital fight is lost

by White Horse News
October 4, 2016
in Front page news
Reading Time: 5 mins read
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WESTBURY’S former hospital is set to meet the same end as the chimney after the NHS last week secured permission for houses to be built on the site.

After a to-and-fro lasting over 18 months Wiltshire Council has finally made its decision on the plans. In a decision slated as ‘undemocratic’ by local campaigners, the council has given permission for the hospital to be demolished and up to 58 homes  built on the site.

Plans have been changed, meetings rescheduled, deadlines extended, and campaigners angered since the proposals were first revealed last February, but now the fight looks to be over for Westbury and District Hospital.

After county councillors visited the site they found no reason to refuse NHS Property Services’ application who are now planning to sell the land to a housing developer.

The STOP campaign group, set up to oppose the application, says it is disappointed but will continue to fight for better healthcare for local people.

Campaign chair Erica Watson was voted the White Horse News’ ‘Person of the Year 2015’ for her efforts founding and organising the group.

Speaking on last week’s decision Erica said,  “We are terribly disappointed that the Westbury Hospital application has been approved despite such a huge response from the Westbury people.

“STOP feels that it has been impossible to beat a system which fails to listen to the people who will be most affected by the decision, but we will continue to work with the community to try to  ensure that Westbury is not disadvantaged any further by a council whose motto is ‘Where everybody matters’.

“Town councillors Ian Cunningham and Gordon King spoke very convincingly on why it should not be approved, and cllr Mike Sutton has been hugely supportive.

“There was nothing democratic about the whole process – the Westbury community were not listened to. Wiltshire Council knows Westbury is one of the most deprived towns in Wiltshire and the decision yesterday has done nothing to alleviate that. Instead, allowing more people will put added pressure on the already over-stretched services especially in health and education.

“We know that there are a very few people who always thought that saving the hospital site for community use was, and I quote “a waste of time” and to them I would say that no time is wasted when working to improve or enhance outcomes for a community who contribute so much to their town.

“STOP will continue to meet and work towards improving outcomes for a community who deserve the same consideration as other Wiltshire towns.”

See the STOP group’s full statement in the story below.

The hospital closed in 2012 when the White Horse Health Centre was opened, and has been derelict since.

An NHS Property Services spokesman said, “We are pleased that Wiltshire Council has approved the outline planning application, in line with the recommendations of its planning department. Our role now is to manage the disposal of the site, as it is surplus to the requirement of healthcare commissioners. Our key objective is to secure best value on behalf of the NHS and the taxpayer, with all proceeds returned to the NHS.”

STOP group: ‘Terribly disappointed’

“Of course we are terribly disappointed that the Westbury Hospital site application has been approved by the Western Area Planning Committee despite such a huge response from the Westbury people,” said Erica Watson, chair of the STOP campaign group.

“We worked very hard, initially to try to save the hospital, then the site for community use and most recently have focussed on the very damaging affect that this development will have on the already congested A350 and the considerable safety issues for residents of The Butts and Orchard Rd.

“We highlighted the potential dangers of up to 50 more cars trying to access the main road from either Orchard Rd or The Butts but sadly the planning committee felt that safety was not a priority for those road users. The Highways officer reported that the former hospital would have generated more traffic than the planned 58 properties, but having worked at the hospital myself I would challenge that – certainly there would never have been that number of vehicles trying to access the A350 at peak times.

“STOP members who attended the planning meeting were dismayed that photographs were displayed of the A350, Orchard Rd and The Butts showing empty roads with few parked cars and we feel that this was misleading. The planning committee today showed little concern for the safety of road users and for STOP members it felt as though their main priority was to avoid an appeal.

“It was highlighted by our own town councillors that Westbury has seen a 26% increase in housing, much higher than the Wiltshire average, but despite its own Core Strategy, Wiltshire Council approved the plans for more housing rather than address their acknowledged lack of infrastructure in the town.

“It was always going to be a tough challenge but we have no regrets about campaigning to get the best for our town. We are writing to the National Planning Case Unit as suggested by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and we will ask them to look at the case and in particular the Core Strategy, the safety issues regarding the A350 and the number of houses built in Westbury approved by Wiltshire Council.

“Given that Westbury has been deemed one of the most deprived towns in the county, the decision to allow yet another increase in population will do little to ease the already overstretched services, especially health care and education.

“STOP feel that it has been impossible to beat a system which fails to listen to the people who will be most affected by the decision taken today but we will continue to work with the community to try to  ensure that Westbury is not disadvantaged any further by a Council whose motto is ‘Everybody does Matter.’

“STOP would like to thank all those who supported us, and as chair of the committee I want to give very special thanks to the committee who have met regularly over the past two years and spent many of their leisure hours tirelessly working to research and document evidence to support our objections.

“We know that there are a very few people who always thought that saving the hospital site for community use was, and I quote “a waste of time” and to them I would say that no time is wasted when working to improve or enhance outcomes for a community who contribute so much to their town. STOP will continue to meet and work towards improving outcomes for a community who deserve the same consideration as other Wiltshire towns.”

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