Plan to save hospital passed

Members voted by 22 votes to 19 to pass the development plans

A hospital in serious financial trouble has been thrown a lifeline after a development plan for the site was approved.

The King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst, West Sussex, had been threatened with closure because the charity which runs it owes about £8m.

The hospital, originally built as a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1903, is currently being run by a liquidator.

A planning application to turn the Grade II listed Victorian building into flats and replace the hospital with a new £18m facility was passed on Wednesday night.

Public inquiry

Members of Chichester District council voted by 22 votes to 19 to allow the proposal to go ahead.

As a result about 300 jobs at the hospital, which treats about 1,200 patients a year, could be secured.

But opposition to the scheme has come form the Countryside Agency and the Sussex Downs Conservation Board because the new building would be in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The liquidators had said the hospital would have to close if the planning application was rejected.

Now there will be a wait of 28 days before it is decided whether the scheme should be referred to a public inquiry.