The Primary Care Trust is keeping tight-lipped about possible locations for Maldon's new £20 million community hospital - but it has thrown out the idea of building it on the site of St Peter's.
Instead, St Peter's Hospital, which is partly in a conservation area, is likely to be sold and turned into a complex of flats to maintain its front workhouse feature.
Ideas for the new hospital, which is expected to be opened by December 2006, were thrashed out at a meeting of Mid Essex Community Health Council on Monday night.
When asked if 2006 was a reasonable time limit considering a site had not even been chosen, Mike Harrison, chief executive of Maldon Primary Care Trust (PCT), said: "The experts say it is a reasonable timetable to do it in."
Maldon district councillor Tom Kelly said: "St Peter's is not a suitable site. I think people of the area have to grasp the nettle if they really want a modern hospital.
Melanie Crass, project manager at Maldon PCT, said: "The preferred option is to invest £20million in building a new community hospital within close proximity of Maldon town to replace the ageing St Peter's."
Peter Richardson, spokesman for Maldon PCT, said: "We are looking at three or four different greenfield sites, but we are not identifying them at this stage."
Published Thursday, January 30, 2003
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