Calls for a brand new hospital to be built in west Hertfordshire are gathering momentum as an online petition demanding a more central facility surpasses 10,000 signatures.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has already submitted plans to redevelop its current sites in Watford and St Albans – a project which it estimates will cost £641m.

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However a recently released report written by Robert Scott, a retired fellow at the Chartered Institute of Building Examinations, argued the case for a new hospital at a green field site near Kings Langley, saying it would be cheaper and quicker to construct.

Major figures including the MP for Hemel Hempstead and the leader of Dacorum Borough Council have backed the calls.

An online petition has also attracted more than 10,000 signatures, meaning that the Government will have to issue an official response.

Mr Scott argues that the Watford and St Albans projects could not be carried out in one phase, despite transformation of the decrepit Vicarage Road site required “as a matter of urgency”, and that the trust’s plans had been produced “with little constructional expertise”.

He also said the current plans would only serve as a medium term solution, inheriting many of the site’s existing problems, and citing the trust’s own strategic outline case, which states that none of the buildings at Watford General “are considered to have a long-term future”.

Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning, who has been campaigning for a new hospital in west Hertfordshire for the past 15 years, said the trust’s current plans were “fundamentally flawed”.

He said: “Throwing more money at Watford in the long term is just ludicrous. It’s a ludicrous place for a 21st Century hospital.

“I respect that the people of Watford say we should invest in the Watford hospital but what I want is for everybody to have a 21st Century hospital, not one that’s in a Victorian building on a sloping site.”

However Tim Duggleby, head of strategic development at the trust, said all the options had been fairly considered.  

“The opportunity to build a brand new hospital on a brand new site is very attractive. We’ve looked at this on a number of occasions over the last 10 years,” he said.

However he said the trust’s calculations found the green field option to be £125m more expensive, adding that planning constraints on green belt land would hamper the building process.

Addressing the growing clamour for a new hospital, he said: “Public opinion absolutely matters but we have looked rationally at the options and come up with the one that best serves west Hertfordshire. It is the best way forward.

“This is not fighting for Watford because we want Watford but because it’s the best option for the next 30 to 40 years.”

The trust is currently working with the Health Campus Partnership to develop plans for a 1,000 space multi-storey car park to kick off the redevelopment project.

Herts Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is expected to deliver a decision on the trust’s plans in the coming months.

If approved, funding from the Treasury and private sector will then be sought.