Coronation Hospital could be rebuilt on Leeds Road site (From Ilkley Gazette)

Coronation Hospital could be rebuilt on Leeds Road site

11:10am Thursday 15th July 2010

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COUNCIL-OWNED land off Ilkley’s Leeds Road is the in the sights of health trust heads as an alternative site for the proposed multi-million pound Coronation Community Hospital.

Secrecy has surrounded a ‘commercially sensitive’ plot under discussion as a possible site for the long-awaited hospital, but now Bradford councillors have confirmed that NHS Bradford and Airedale is investigating the council land as a possible site for the new hospital.

The health trust confirmed that the Leeds Road land is one of the sites it is considering – but said it could not comment any further at this stage The plot is believed to the Ashlands Field, the council-owned field between Ashlands Primary School and Backstone Beck.

The location was finally made public on Tuesday, when new Ilkley ward councillor, Mike Gibbons (Con), asked new Labour leader of Bradford Council, Councillor Ian Greenwood, to confirm if the council had been in discussions to sell the Leeds Road site.

Speaking at a full Bradford Council meeting at Bradford’s City Hall, Coun Greenwood confirmed that the NHS was investigating the availability of alternative sites, including the council’s land on Leeds Road.

He also said he would be happy to talk to Coun Gibbons further about the issue.

The recently-elected Coun Gibbons has headed the campaign to save Ilkley’s hospital services since doubts arose about the future of the town’s cottage hospital in 2002 amid financial troubles of then owner Airedale NHS Trust.

Following an 11,000-plus signature petition from Ilkley people, intervention from MP Ann Cryer and public consultation about the future of hospital services, the health trust drew up proposals for a new hospital.

The latest scheme was revealed last year, but some concerns were raised by residents about rebuilding the hospital on the cramped current Springs Lane site.

Coun Gibbons, who has been pressing NHS Bradford and Airedale to reveal the location of its proposed rebuild elsewhere in Ilkley, is now calling on the trust to move ahead with plans.

He told the Gazette: “The cat is out of the bag now, and it’s time to show good faith and proceed as rapidly as possible. What I don’t want to see is any perceived changes to the way local health care is funded made any excuse. We were told that there is ring-fenced money to provide this facility.”

One of the hold-ups in the hospital rebuild plans in recent years was said to have been changes to the structure of NHS funding. NHS Bradford and Airedale has not yet ruled out the possibility of pressing ahead with original plans to build a replacement hospital on the Coronation’s current Springs Lane site.

A trust spokesman said: “Our plans to replace and rebuild Coronation Hospital in Ilkley continue. We aim to build the best healthcare facility within planned resources which meet the needs of the local community.

“We can confirm that in addition to rebuilding on the existing site, we are investigating the availability of alternative sites including the council-owned land on Leeds Road. At this stage we cannot comment any further about these proposals.”

If Bradford sells the site to NHS Bradford and Airedale, however, the trust will still need to go through the formal council planning process to build the hospital on Leeds Road. The area around Backstone Beck, which runs across Ashlands Road and under Leeds Road, is already an area of concern about flooding.

Moving the Coronation Hospital to another site has been seen by some as one of the answers to overcrowding at Ilkley Grammar School. The current hospital site backs on to the school’s land.

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