Petition against £420m hospital

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Opponents say the hospital will be too close to homes

Hundreds of Teesside residents have signed a petition against a new £420m, 660-bed "super hospital".

Health chiefs want to combine services currently provided at hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool.

Land at Wynyard Business Park or a nearby site at Green Farm in Wolviston are being considered for the facility.

But some residents are against the move for the seven-storey building, claiming it would create traffic problems, and that they were not properly consulted.

'Not acceptable'

The government's Independent Reconfiguration Panel recommended a new site to replace out-of-date buildings at the 445-bed University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton and the 334-bed University Hospital of Hartlepool in January 2007.

But opponent Jane Bullock of Wynard said: "It is too close to my home from a traffic and transport point of view.

"They are looking at two sites which are just a few hundred yards away from each other which is a nonsense.

"A seven-storey building near here is just not acceptable - there will never be a hospital beside homes and we will take this as far as a judicial review."

Councillor Jonathan Brash, of Hartlepool Council, said: "This is a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to radically transform healthcare services in Hartlepool for patients both now and for decades to come."