Residents have expressed concerns about a proposed plan to demolish the diabetes and glaucoma units at Kingston hospital and build 128 new flats there instead.
The plans submitted earlier this week to construct three new buildings are aimed at housing elderly people with ongoing health needs. Local residents, however, have expressed concerns about what will happen to the patients currently treated there.
Kimberley Bush, who regularly visits her father in the affected wing, said: “The hospital is already very full.
“His ward has a lot of people in it [and] as soon as someone is moved out someone else is moved in. I’m not exactly sure where they would fit those patients [in].
“Also it’s such a beautiful old building, it’d be such a shame to knock it down.”
The building was constructed back in 1868 but the hospital’s estate plan reveals that the council planned to sell the building six years ago, describing it as being in an “unacceptable condition”.
Lucas Rudja, a local resident, acknowledged the need for more funding for social care in the area and said that: “It could be more but it’s a good start.”
Residents have also raised concerns about the height of the building, it being moved closer to the road and the traffic congestion that will be caused as a result of this, according to the Coombe Council website.
Residents can view the planning permissions and raise concerns under the reference 19/02504/FUL on the Kingston Council website.
