THE prospect of £590 million investment in new hospital facilities is indeed welcome, if overdue. Even if the Government’s deadline of a project being delivered by 2025 seems tight, it would still mean we have waited a very long time.

An independent report commissioned by West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust has shown that the only practical solution is new facilities and refurbishment of existing ones at Watford General. Other sites are either not available and/or would take too long to deliver.

Watford General has many advantages. It is already in NHS ownership and is at the heart of the largest urban area within West Hertfordshire. The new access provided by Thomas Sawyer Way and the proposed new car park improve accessibility to the site, which had been a concern for people living outside Watford. These changes also mean that there is land available within the site for hospital expansion.

We cannot afford to have much-needed hospital investment delayed by an endless quest for a supposedly perfect site equidistant from everyone in West Herts – one that no one can quite ever identify.

At Watford General we have an actual hospital that badly needs investment to provide better facilities for NHS patients across West Hertfordshire. It’s time to get on with it.

Cllr Iain Sharpe

Cabinet member for regeneration and development