Malvern Hospital

The Council held a special meeting last night to discuss the issue of a new hospital in Malvern to serve the District. As the leader of the Council appeared to be making the issue into a party political issue I proposed that a working group be set up of the three group leaders (including myself) and a member of the Town Council to push the matter forward. It is claimed that progress has been made in persuading the PCT to commit to the project but no evidence has been produced that they have the funding to back this up.

It has been suggested that the Council borrow the funds to finance the hospital. This may be a good idea so long as the costs of this are borne by the PCT and not a burden on the Council tax payer (estimated at c20% increase on the MHDC precept). The leader has suggested that the PCT should not pay towards the cost but his finance portfolio holder believes otherwise. This will need watching.