Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Huntingdon MP Ben Obese-Jecty that Labour “are on the side of the builders, not the blockers” as he pledged work would start on a new Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon, by 2027.
Funding of between £500m to £1bn will be needed for Hinchingbrooke which is one of 16 hospitals given the green light by the Labour Government this week.
Mr Streeting’s particular reference Hinchingbrooke came after he responded in the House of Commons to Mr Obese-Jecty’s fears that the new hospital could be held up by traffic gridlock in the surrounding area.
“Hinchingbrooke hospital in Huntingdon is one of the RAAC hospitals for which funding has already been approved,” the MP said.
“That hospital will not be allocated grid space until quarter 1 of 2028, but it will need it by Q1 2027 in order to keep the build on track.
“Additionally, traffic around the hospital is frequently gridlocked.
“A vital new access road is part of the plans, but the land where it would go is owned by Cambridgeshire Constabulary and National Highways, who are yet to give up the additional land they acquired via compulsory purchase order when constructing Views Common Road.”
He asked if Mr Streeting would “meet me in order to work through those blockers—given that they are all being caused by Government agencies—and meet Hinchingbrooke hospital’s 2030 delivery date, and can he confirm that the 2030 date is still the target?”
Mr Streeting replied: “This Government are on the side of the builders, not the blockers.
“I can confirm to him that we are determined to start Hinchingbrooke in 2027-28. We work closely with the local project team, but we would be delighted to receive representations about his frustrations with the delivery of that project.”
Hinchingbrooke was part of The New Hospital Programme announced in 2019 by former prime minister Boris Johnson to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, under a £20bn budget.
However, its deliverability has been questioned in the years since.
Other local hospitals given the go ahead in the first wave of new builds include Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital (£500m or less) and West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds (£1bn to £1.5bn).
Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King’s Lynn is also on the list for an early start – it will cost between £1bn to £1.5bn to replace it.
