The debate over the site of Coventry’s new super-hospital may still run for some time after Coventry’s Community Health Authority decided to call a public meeting.

The committee of the Community Health Authority met last night to discuss Friday’s decision by the Area Health Authority to choose Walsgrave as the site for the development.

The meeting ended with the decision to stage a public meeting on Wednesday 12 May, where the CCHA will ask people to voice their opinions on what should now be done.

The organisations’ chief officer Sandra Attef believes it is vital that people get the opportunity to make their feelings felt.

She said:

"We could have decided not to call a public meeting and to accept the decision that has been reached, but we felt that the strength of opinion backing a city centre site was too big to overlook.

"70% of the Coventry Health Council members are in favour of the central site and we do feel this view has been taken into consideration."

The Coventry Community Health Authority has the statutory right to appeal on the decision to the Secretary of State for Health, and their chief officer feels this must be discussed.

She said:

"I am not suggesting that the meeting will definitely go that way, but that is an option that is legally open to us and if people feel strongly enough then we can take it."

The Health Authority were legally obliged to consult the Community Health Authority before making a decision, which they did, but Mrs Attef believes their questions were not fully answered.

She said:

"In making their decision last Friday the Coventry Health Authority did not fully answer the queries we had raised, and now our members must vote on the action they wish to take."