Marie Curie Cancer Care hospice agreed for Solihull green belt site despite protests

Dec 10 2009 by Sophie Cross, Birmingham Mail

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a new state-of-the-art cancer hospice to be built in green belt land in Solihull have been approved.

The Marie Curie Cancer Care scheme was given the go-ahead by Solihull Council’s planning committee.

Provided the decision is now ratified by the Government Office of the West Midlands, it will see the organisation moving from its existing base in Warwick Road to land in Marsh Lane in the town centre.

The scheme was opposed by hundreds of residents, who claimed the charity had not proved the nature of the “very special circumstances” required by law in order to encroach on the green belt.

Lying between Marsh Lane and the Solihull Bypass, the 2.49-hectare plot has been referred to as the “green gateway” into Solihull.

The charity also came under fire for a “lamentable” lack of detail regarding the 24 sites it said it previously investigated and disregarded as unsuitable – a matter which a number of councillors expressed fears could be an issue at the next stage of approval.

Speaking on behalf of Marsh Lane Area Residents’ Group, chartered town planner David Scott said: “This harm will be caused in a location where an independent inspector concluded in 2005 that removing the Marsh Lane site from the green belt would erode a vulnerable part of the Meriden Gap.

“The proposal goes far beyond what is essential to increase the number of hospital beds from 17 to 24.”

Marie Curie outlined its case on the grounds of the need for more beds to reduce waiting lists, the necessity to retain staff and volunteers in the borough and the lack of suitability of alternative sites.

The charity performed poorly in a number of Care Quality Commission investigations between 2002-2008, which it put down to “extensive limitations” at its current facilities.

Conditions at Warwick Road – where the charity moved in 1965 – pose problems including a lack of privacy, unisex toilets and the dead currently having to be brought down through a lift, pass other patients’ rooms and out through the main reception.

Hospice manager Liz Cottier said: “Every day I see the problems my staff face in trying to deliver high quality care in a cramped building – which has absolutely no long-term future as a hospice.

“But, my biggest concern is for our patients and families. They want to spend time together in a dignified setting where they can talk and laugh and sometimes cry together in privacy.”

The charity said if approval was not granted there was a risk bed numbers would have to be reduced on safety grounds – despite the fact the local Palliative Care Network suggests between 25 and 28 beds are needed in the borough.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt added: “I hardly need to spell out how important Marie Curie is to Solihull. Not only are 60 per cent of the patients from the borough, but also 83 per cent of the volunteers come from Solihull itself.

“As a defender of all green spaces I naturally would not have wished this new hospice to have been built on green belt. But the benefits are very great indeed.”