Ambitious proposals to build a new £380 million super hospital in Smethwick could now be given the go ahead within the next month, it has been revealed.
Health bosses at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals (SWBH) NHS Trust say they are hoping their proposals which include 700 beds catering for 98,000 inpatients and 178,000 outpatients a year will be considered by Sandwell Council’s planning committee within weeks.
They have pencilled in August 8 to hear whether the scheme is due to go ahead.
A decision could be made when the authority’s planning committee meets a week earlier on July 30.
It had been hoped the huge application would be considered by the planning committee last month but the document will be one of the biggest to go through the planning department for some time.
This means there is likely to be a lot of preparation work to be carried out before it can be considered for approval or refusal.
SWBH spokeswoman Jessamy Kinghorn said: “We have earmarked August 8 to hear something but it may be the week previously.
“We are hoping for a positive result. We have been working hard to ensure our plans are in keeping with the wider regeneration of the area.”
If the scheme is given the go ahead the hospital trust will need to secure the approval of its land business case by the Strategic Health Authority which it is hoped will come by the end of September.
Work on compulsory purchase orders for the land could then get under way by October.
The blueprint features a hospital with around 700 beds and a Bullring-style underground car park.
The venture would also provide employment for around 4,000 people and the hospital’s location on a brownfield site will make it unique in the whole of the UK.
Once the plans have received outline planning permission, the scheme will go out to tender, before the hospital’s expected completion in 2015.
The hospital plan is part of a wider £700million health overhaul as part of the Towards 2010 programme which also includes nearly 40 new or refurbished health centres.
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