David Davies, the Conservative M.P. for Monmouth, today hit out at Newport City Councillors who are campaigning to have a new specialist hospital built within the city limits. This comes despite evidence which suggests that Croesyceiliog not Newport would be a better site for the multi-million pound Specialist and Critical Care Centre (SCCC) on the grounds that it easier to get to for residents across Gwent.
Speaking from Monmouth today, David said, “It is a real shame that some Newport councillors are taking such a parochial view of this issue. The plan for the hospital is that it will serve people across the whole of Gwent and clearly it has been found that Newport is not a suitable venue for the project to best serve its purpose.
Independent reports have suggested that the best site for the new hospital would be at Croesyceiliog. There have been enourmous problems with parking and traffic on the Royal Gwent site and these problems would get worse if a bigger hospital was built there.
Residents of towns like Abergavenny will already have to travel a much greater distance if services are taken out of Nevill Hall and relocated in Croesyceiliog, now Newport Council are trying to inflict further unnecesary inconvenience on them.
If the new hospital goes ahead it will be built for patients across the county so it is important that we avoid narrow self-interest and look at the bigger picture, namely where will the hospital be most useful for the largest number of people.
I hope that Newport councillors associated with this campaign to withdraw their impractical proposals and take note of what is being said by the independent experts. The hospital should be situated in the most useful and convenient location.