Today the planning application for a multi-storey car park (MSCP) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust (QEH) has been approved by the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. The MSCP will be built on the hospital site and is a key ‘enabler’ for the Trust’s much-needed new hospital which would be built on the site of the existing main car park. QEH is investment ready to deliver a new hospital as soon as Government funding is secured.
The new MSCP will be built in two phases. The first phase will provide 500 parking spaces and the second, to be built alongside a new hospital, will provide a further 879 spaces. Together these will replace the existing car park at the hospital. The new car park will be located on the site of the Inspire Centre, which is due for demolition.
Speaking about the planning application outcome Paul Brooks, Director of Estates and Facilities said: “Today our planning application for a MSCP has been approved by the Council. To put it simply, without a multi-storey car park, we can’t build the much-needed new hospital at QEH before our 2030 hospital end of life deadline. We have worked hard with our colleagues at the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to ensure this new car park will have a limited visual impact to the surrounding area.
“In the short-term the MSCP will help to ease well-recognised parking pressures at our hospital and in the long-term it will free up the existing car park for a new hospital building. We are now focused on securing funding for the car park and hope, if this is forthcoming, to start work on the build this year.
“In the meantime, we continue to push on all fronts for a decision to secure QEH’s place on the Government’s list for funding for a new hospital. We very much hope for a decision soon.”
Following extensive engagement on the MSCP in the Summer of 2022, hundreds of people shared their views on the proposal. In response to the feedback a number of changes were made to the plans, including:
- changes to the road layout around the car park entrance to ease traffic congestion
confirming that the new car park will be pay on exit and payment by app and card will be an option
- increasing the size of individual parking spaces to make it easier to park and get in and out of vehicles
locating blue badge spaces on the ground floor and ensuring enough height clearance for disabled spaces to accommodate mobility vehicles
- enhancing the external planting and soft landscaping to further improve the look and feel of the environment around the car park.
Further details about the MSCP are available on the QEH website at www.qehkl.nhs.uk/mscp.asp and full details of the planning application can be found on the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk website here.
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