A new staff car park has been built at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital - but without planning consent.
A new staff car park has been built at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital - but without planning consent.
Hospital bosses admitted this week they had failed to obtain the relevant planning permission from Telford & Wrekin Council but claimed the work was a matter of urgency.
The land, previously grassland, lies behind the hospital, between the main buildings and nearby Apley Woods.
Work has been going on for some weeks and the Journal understands the car park - an extension to the existing staff park - was due to open this week until drainage problems interfered.
Car parking at the Princess Royal has always been fraught with difficulty, particularly at visiting times, with cars left on access roads and verges.
Those problems were allegedly the main reason for introducing the controversial pay-to-park system.
That, in turn, was later updated with a new zoning arrangement, reserving some of the spaces on the public car parks for staff - a move which only served to increase pressures.
The new car park at the rear of the hospital is intended to take staff cars out of the main car parks and so relieve some of the pressures on public parking.
Bosses told the Journal that the decision to start work on the scheme without planning permission was due the “serious impact” parking was having on patients and visitors.
Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said the new car park would provide up to 86 extra staff spaces, which would, in turn, free up public spaces.
He said: “We are aware that patients and visitors can sometimes experience problems parking and this has meant some patients have found it difficult to attend their appointments which has understandably caused them a great deal of frustration.
“We have listened to the feedback from patients who use our services, their visitors, and staff who all park at the hospital and, in order to help improve the amount of parking spaces available to them, the Trust is temporarily extending the staff car park on the north side of the hospital site.
“Work on this temporary car park is currently underway and the Trust is hoping that planning permission will be granted as soon as possible.”
