HEALTH chiefs are hoping to sell off the Park Lee site to developers when the hospital closes in 1998.

Blackburn Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Healthcare Trust is applying for permission to build houses at Park Lee Hospital.

If outline planning permission is granted then hospital bosses will find it easier to market the land near Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

The aim is to shift all health care to Queen's Park Hospital by the Year 2006 with the eventual closure of Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

A trust spokesperson said: "The East Lancashire hospice at Park Lee will stay open. This is not about cutting back on services. The ultimate aim is to move everything to a single site."

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