More than a thousand people have given their views about plans for a new multi-storey car park at Airedale General Hospital.
The Trust was keen to gather the views of visitors, patients and staff as part of the process to develop the new car park, which is a key milestone on the journey to a new hospital for Airedale.
Airedale General Hospital needs to be replaced because almost all of the current buildings are built from Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete. RAAC has been found to have a lifespan of 30 years, and Airedale Hospital is now more than 50 years old.
The Trust is now moving through stage two of the journey – getting the site ready – and one of the key parts of this will be a new multi-storey car park. The new car park will vastly improve parking facilities for patients, visitors and our staff and ensure there is space for people to park while the new hospital is being built.
A survey, carried out in August and September, resulted in more than 1,200 responses from both individuals and groups. People’s views were also sought through a series of focus groups and interviews.
The feedback related to current car parking on site, what was important to people in a new car park and ideas around its design with some of the key themes including:
- Ensuring there are enough spaces, as people accessing the hospital by car frequently find it difficult to park.
- Also making sure there are adequate accessible parking spaces for people with mobility issues, parents and carers.
- The impact on residents of people who use or work at the hospital parking in neighbouring streets.
- The need for bigger spaces and the importance of being able to manoeuvre around the multi-storey easily.
- Wanting the look and feel of the car park to fit with the rural surroundings and the importance of retaining green space and trees.
- The need to ensure that the payment system is easy to use and concerns about the cost of parking, particularly for frequent visitors.
Chief Executive of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, ’Foluke Ajayi, said: “We are really grateful for the time people took to give us their feedback so a big thank you to everyone who got involved in this important process.
“All your views will be fed into the design process to help make the car park as user friendly as possible and to inform the look of the building. We will be sharing the plans once they are ready and giving people another chance to share their thoughts before we submit a planning application to Bradford Council early next year.
“These are exciting times – as next year will see the reality of our new hospital start to take shape. Getting the site ready will include the multi-storey car park plans and other important works such as a power substation and additional access road.”
The recent car parking survey report can be read in full here.
If you would like to keep up-to-date or get involved with shaping plans for the new hospital, you can join the Trust’s mailing list. Please send your name, postcode and email address to anhsft.yournewhospital@nhs.net and put the email subject as ‘Mailing list.’
