DEVELOPERS, who want to build a new town at Micheldever Station, are calling for the site to be considered for the new hospital.

The O’Flynn Group is proposing a 6,000 home new town on 1,250 acres of farmland surrounding Micheldever Station.

In a letter to the Chronicle, Shane O’Flynn, development director, said the site is an 'obvious location' between Winchester and Basingstoke. 

Mr O'Flynn said: “The obvious place which can be the compromise acceptable to all the communities is the land available at Micheldever Station, equidistant between the towns of Basingstoke, Winchester and Andover, which has a rail station and excellent road access as well. 

“As promoter of the land at Micheldever Station, I can confirm that the site is available. An additional new factor since the NHS last considered our site almost five years ago is that the Basingstoke local plan now proposes development of a garden village at Popham which will bring large scale residential development to the area and new housing for potential staff for a new hospital in the area. 

“The case for a new hospital, other employment uses and sustainable housing development on the other side of the A303 at Micheldever Station makes even more sense than it did in 2020. We have accordingly submitted our representation to the recent NHS consultation calling for the choice of site to be reconsidered to better serve the local populations within its catchment.”

The plans are for a new specialist acute hospital on the edge of Basingstoke, using more than £800m government funding. The RHCH would be refurbished and a 24/7 'urgent treatment centre' opened with the downgrading of the A&E unit.

The maternity unit at the hospital would also be downgraded to be midwife-led. The new hospital would open in 2032.

The Dever Society has been opposing development plans at Micheldever Station for more than 30 years. 

Chairman Tessa Robertson said: “This comes as no surprise. O’Flynn Group will take every opportunity and grasp at every straw to promote the new town at Micheldever Station, and offering to provide the land for the new hospital is simply one more example. Micheldever Station was rejected as a site for the new hospital in 2020, despite O’Flynn Group’s efforts to promote it, and nothing has changed since then. 

“The new town continues to be rejected by Winchester Council and the proposed ‘garden village’ on Popham airfield is facing strong opposition. Despite their best efforts, they have no case to make.”