FEARS have been raised over the future of the Calderstones Hospital site if it was forced to close.

The concerns were sparked at the start of the month after an independent expert advised national NHS chiefs to shut down the facility.

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Sir Stephen Bubb, who was asked by NHS England to review services for patients with learning disabilities or autism, has told health chiefs to close large institutions like the Whalley-based hospital and move patients into smaller units or community-based care instead.

Residents have expressed their concerns that if the hospital, which dates from the 19th century, was to close, it would be transformed into a new housing estate.

Leaders at Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Mitton Road facility, have said that they had no knowledge of any intended closure.

Nick Walker, chair of the Save Whalley Village Action Group, said: “I can absolutely see that if Calderstones was to close that housing developers will jump on it and build a new housing estate.

“The village already has 660 houses planning for it as well as a possibility of a further 400.

“We seem to already be on our way to Whalley becoming an urban sprawl and will be just short of a town if it happens sometime in the future.

“The impact on Whalley would be huge and would change its character and feel forever.

“The traffic and the infrastructure just would not cope. We do not believe that the developers would keep their promises to build new schools for example.

“When Calderstones Park was built we were promised a new school but that never happened.

“There are also plans for 1,000 houses in Barrow so the whole area will be joined up to Clitheroe.

“People in the village are genuinely worried about the housing crisis here and those fears will only increase if Calderstones if closed and turned into housing.

“Any future development on that site would destroy the character of Whalley and we would never be able to get it back.”

Cllr Terry Hill, who represents the village on Ribble Valley Council and is the planning committee chairman, said: “This is how Calderstones Park started in the first place.

“They closed that section of the site and put it up for sale.

“The trust will have a legal obligation to make sure that it gets the best deal in terms of the value of the site.

“It’s too early to say what it would become if it did close because I have not been made aware of anything such move.

“I understand why residents are concerned about the future of Whalley and that site because of how many houses have been approved in the past.”