[25 AUG 98] COVENTRY
CITY COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
Coventry City Council Pledges
Support For City Centre Hospital Coventry City Council leader John Fletcher has sent
the following letter to Coventry Health Authority chief executive Chris Howgrave-Graham
offering the council's full support and assistance for a city centre hospital.
TO: Chris Howgrave-Graham, Chief Executive, Coventry Health
Authority
FROM: Cllr John Fletcher, Leader, Coventry City Council
DATE: 20 August 1998
Dear Chris
CITY COUNCIL SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE
FOR A CITY CENTRE HOSPITAL
Yesterday (Wednesday) two important meetings took place. In
the morning, I understand that Iain Roxburgh and his Chief Officers met you and your team
from the Health Authority for a very constructive discussion about how the Council can
actively assist the achievement of the Coventry and Warwickshire site option. In the
afternoon, I chaired a meeting of the Council's Executive Co-ordinating Committee where
there was an extensive discussion which confirmed the Council's political commitment -
right across the political spectrum - to a city centre hospital.
As you know from previous statements and correspondence,
the City Council wants to see a new hospital developed in Coventry and has welcomed the
government's commitment to its funding via PFI. We have said previously that we will work
constructively with both public and private sector partners on whichever option is
ultimately progressed. I would like, however, to emphasise the Council's very strong
preference for the city centre option on the grounds of:
- The health needs of the citizens of Coventry - a matter on
which I know the Health Authority has already expressed their preference;
- The accessibilty needs of patients, outpatients, visitors
and employees;
- The exceptionally important contribution that it would make
to the regeneration of the city centre as a whole and to the adjoining Hillfields and
Foleshill areas.
The location of the new general hospital in this area of
the city would support a number of key priorities developed in the Coventry Community Plan
and it would make, itself, a significant contribution to a number of the city's strategic
objectives as expressed in the Plan.
I can assure you that, if the final decision on the
location of the new general hospital is based on the Coventry and Warwickshire site, the
City Council's commitment to its successful achievement at all stages will be total. It is
difficult to envisage at this stage precisely what actions will be necessary by the City
Council, but I do assure you that we will doing all we can within our powers to facilitate
the scheme and its integration into the regeneration of the city centre and the wider
area.
 Regarding the specifics of the scheme as far as we can see them at
this stage, I envisage that land availability surrounding the Coventry and Warwickshire
site is a critically important factor. I enclose a map which gives details of this land
and in particular those parts which are currently owned by the City Council. You can see
that the current hospital site is surrounded by seven acres of land in the City Council's
ownership and in addition, there is the Hillfields Health Centre in Department of Health
ownership. The plots marked B and D could be made available relatively quickly, while the
balance of the land is currently tenanted or in private ownership and therefore may take
longer to become available. [CLICK THE
MAP TO ENLARGE]
The City Council's standard form of agreement is to dispose
of land on a long leasehold basis for a one-off capital payment, or annual rental payment.
The City Council is duty bound to ensure that a market price is gained from these
transactions. However, in dealing with any disposal, the City Council will take into
account the broader strategic aims of city centre redevelopment and the Community Plan as
well as the knock-on effects on land values and land sales elsewhere as a consequence of
this scheme going ahead.
You are aware, I believe, that the City Council already has
a proposal to remove the elevated ring road between Foleshill Road and the Sky Blue Way
and this road scheme is an integral part of the City Council's plans for regenerating the
city centre. I believe that the associated road infrastructure requirements of the
hospital scheme could compliment these initiatives, providing far greater accessibility
from the city centre than at present to the Coventry and Warwickshire site and opening up
opportunities for a successful PFI consortium to become a partner in the associated
commercial development opportunities adjoining these schemes. Let me make it absolutely
clear that it would not be our intention to recharge our own costs in removing the
elevated ring road to either the NHS or the PFI partner.
My vision is of a new, modern and highly accessible general
hospital, based on the Coventry and Warwickshire site, serving the citizens of Coventry
and the wider North Warwickshire area. It would not be "adjacent to", but part
of the enlarged city centre of Coventry and it would be a major economic regenerator
itself for the city centre, for the surrounding inner city areas and for the city as a
whole. Combined with the new medical school on the one hand and all the associated
commercial development opportunities that open up on the other, it would form a major
boost to the city's regeneration.
I look forward to working with the Health Authority, the
Walsgrave Hospitals NHS Trust and the PFI partners over the next years in the successful
completion of this scheme and working in partnership for the regeneration of the city.
Yours sincerely
John Fletcher
Leader of the City Council
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