New hospital at Pease Pottage possible in five years

They have sent plans for a hospital with emergency services and maternity unit at Pease Pottage to Candy Morris, chief executive of the Strategic Health Authority, and are waiting for a reply.

The site at Pease Pottage had been first mooted six years ago by Mr Maude , when it became clear that Crawley Hospital would lose its accident and emergency, maternity and children's facilities, with patients having to travel to Redhill for treatment.

With Gatwick airport and the M25 also in the equation,a new hospital was seen as vital for the northern part of West Sussex but the proposal was dropped by the health authority in 2002 as being too costly.

Now Mr Maude and Cllr Smith have come up with a firm plan, which they say would cost less than 200 million, and 50 million less than the previous proposal.

The savings would be achieved by using relatively cheap materials, and building in the way of modern superstores, so that design and layout could be adpated or changed easily.

For full story see West Sussex Gazette October 26