Thank you Collette for both welcoming me and recognising that I am trying to be informative and for that I will continue with the story ...
At the KCC-HOSC hearing of 9 May 2008, I put forward a CASE for a Community Hospital as envisaged by the Government and supported by the opposition. This is spelt out in White Papers etc. and for which Government grants are/were available but neither the PCT or the EKHT had applied for. - I will make available the report that I presented to anyone who wishes to read it.
At that time Mr Prosser and Mr Elphicke were both behind me and the DDC (all parties) were about to publish their intensly researched report ... which also agreed. I did not specify a site as I felt it expedient to stay within the legal perimeters so that if it went pear-shaped I could successfully apply for a Judicial Review.
As we should all know, I won and although the EKHT said that they would only spend £8.5m it was not long before the PCT - the then money providers coughed up £20m as a starter. At that time we had two senior officers of the PCT who were genuinely excited about the proposal and one from the EKHT who was caught between his employers view and the two officers enthusiasm (poor blocke)!
What happened next, in Dover, I will not go into other than it weakened our case. Suffice to say that in reality the EKHT reckonned (I have the estimates) that to provide the Community Hospital that had been won, would cost about £23m at least. This could be partly off-set by selling off the Buckland Hospital site (this was before the housing slump).
As for the site, the KCC-HOSC recognising that to keep my case in tact (in the event that a Judicial Review was persued), recommended that the site should be chosen by DDC/EKHT and the PCT.
I was however, later asked, by the KCC-HOSC, for my opinion on my preferred site. This was (and still is) Buckland Mill as there is plenty of space to expand, good access and is sufficiently close to the town to help with regeneration.
Regeneration was, and still is, DDCs main concern. As for Whitfield, shortly after 9 May, Berwicks offered a 6 acre site there - however, this was rejected by the EKHT
. Please note this was only days after the KCC-HOSC proclamation BEFORE DDC/PCT and EKHT had sat round the table in discussion!
If, Collette (or anyone else), wishes me to continue, I will ...
Lorraine