A PLAN to build 52 homes on the former Clitheroe Hospital site has been revealed.

The historic building, which dates back to the 19th century and was first constructed as a workhouse, has stood empty since 2014 when it was replaced by a new hospital.

MORE TOP STORIES:

This is the first time that a proposal has been published for the Chatburn Road site and the applicant, NHS Property Services, has not said whether all or parts of the building will be knocked down.

The proposal has been included in a screening opinion, the process of determining whether an environmental impact assessment is required as part of a planning application, which has been submitted to Ribble Valley Borough Council.

The purpose of an assessment is to ensure that the environmental effects of a proposed development are properly considered.

It includes no supporting documents as they will not be published until an outline planning application is submitted for consideration.

However it does say that ‘existing structures’ will be demolished and replaced by the new residential development.

Cllr Mark Robinson, the leader of Clitheroe Town Council, has criticised the plan and instead called for the site to be used as a new medical centre.

He said: “I’m not happy about this idea at all. I think that it would be much more beneficial to the town for that site to be used as a medical centre than a new housing estate.

“The building that’s there at the moment is not very nice to look at in my opinion but that’s a matter of taste. A new medical centre would serve this town much better than even more homes.”

The former hospital has now been declared surplus to the requirements of the NHS by East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group. The building was completed in 1873 and was designed for 200 people and a 36-bed hospital.

After 1930, the workhouse site became Coplow View Public Assistance Infirmary and in 1948 it was brought into the NHS and became Clitheroe Community Hospital.

In 2014 the hospital closed after the £7.4million Clitheroe Community Hospital opened next door.

Cllr Stuart Hirst, leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, said: “The applicant is able to put in whatever planning application that they want to.

“Any proposal will have to fit in with our existing policies on listing and protected buildings. If one did then I can see planning permission being approved for such a scheme.”

A spokesman for NHS Property Services said: “This site needs a new lease of life and we are working on a proposal that would provide new homes, a proportion of which could be affordable, subject to viability.

“It would release vital funds for the NHS through the eventual sale of the property and is a chance to turn an empty site that is surplus to NHS requirements into something far more beneficial for the local community and the taxpayer.”