Statement on Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust application

The reinstatement of in-patient services for Cranleigh has been a long fight. For over a decade now the residents of Cranleigh have campaigned and fundraised with this goal in mind. It should be obvious then why the application by Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust currently under review by Waverley Borough Council for the site at Knowle Lane is such a disappointment - it simply does not fulfill the the people of Cranleigh's quest.

Instead the application is for a development consisting of 60 commercial care home beds, 26 affordable homes for staff and carers and 20 NHS community beds. In the application these community beds are "prioritised for patients from Cranleigh and the surrounding villages" and are supposed to replace "the 14 beds in Cranleigh Village Hospital that were closed in 2006". However, this absolutely overstates the management company of the care home's ability to specify who accesses these beds.

Combine this failure to deliver on the original goal of the project and the community's current needs, with the significant challenges the site will place on already stretched local infrastructure and it is clear to me that this project needs to be looked at again. It is my hope that Waverley Borough Council will reject the application and ask the developing parties to revise the application considerably.