A TOP level meeting was due to take place in London yesterday (Wednesday), in an effort to see Okehampton?s Castle Hospital site retained for extra care housing.
West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett, who has vowed to fight moves to use the site for general residential development, was due to meet Lord Warner, Minister of State at the Department of Health, as the Times went to press.
Joining Mr Burnett at Richmond House, the Department of Health headquarters, were David Incoll, chief executive of West Devon Borough Council, Ian Rice, deputy director of Social Services in Devon and Dr Paul Nielson.
Mr Burnett said: ?It?s now looking promising. I am very pleased at the response of NHS Estates and the department and I am now much more confident that following my intervention last month, we will be able to win the case for an extra care development at the Castle Hospital.?
The borough?s Local Plan currently restricts development of the site to medical care uses or development where a significant element of care is provided for residents.
But proposed modifications by Inventurres, property agents for NHS Estates, would allow the site to be developed for general housing.
Mr Burnett said he, doctors in the area and Mid Devon Primary Care Trust, believed the short-term financial gain to the NHS of this move could be outweighed in the medium to long term if the site was developed for accommodation for older people, people with mental health problems, those with learning disabilities and other, at-risk, groups.