I was quite amused to read the article saying that Watford's councillors are encouraging new hospital campaigners to get behind West Herts Hospitals Trust's plans to redevelop Watford General Hospital.

How can councillors support plans that have yet to be finalised? To my knowledge the trust haven't shortlisted their preferred redevelopment options for further evaluation. The councillors should also remember that the £350 million will not all be spent on Watford General Hospital. St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead hospitals will also need millions spent on them just to keep them operational. (If a new A&E hospital costs in the region of £750 million then a new planned care unit to replace St Albans City Hospital and Hemel Hempstead Hospital would surely cost in the region of £350 million and also be unaffordable!)

Then we have Cllr Iain Sharp proposing a motion "opposing continued attempts to promote an alternative site for services" - and adding that "A dream site for a hospital does not exist." and "it is walkable to railway stations".

Mr Sharp, we live in a democracy and new hospital campaigners have every right to campaign for better hospital facilities for everyone living in West Herts. Regarding there being no dream site for a hospital - there were 17 sites assessed by Amec Foster Wheeler and there are other sites too like the "Golden Triangle" near Bricket Wood that would be equally suitable.

I hardly think the current location of Watford General Hospital can be labelled a dream site unless you are a developer. Mr Sharp's definitely has a good sense of humour by suggesting to poorly and elderly patients that Watford General is "walkable to railway stations" - really!

Then we have the Mayor of Watford suggesting that a new A&E hospital would cost around £1 billion - that was the trust's cost estimate for 2018 but strangely their latest cost estimates for a new A&E hospital have now plummeted to between £700-750 million (that's deflation for you!) Just to add an additional point here - there are no examples, that I am aware, of there being any new UK hospitals costing anywhere near £700-750 million and that includes larger trusts with teaching hospitals and trusts affected by the demise of Carillion.

Whilst the hospitals trust are ruling out a new A&e hospital for West Herts, their sister trust in Harlow, Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, are pushing on with plans to build a new A&E Hospital within six years on a greenfield site for an estimated cost of £400 million and with potential to expand by 20 per cent capacity as their population grows.

They argue that a new A&E hospital on a greenfield site would be delivered sooner than building on the current site and therefore cost less and provide all the benefits of brand new facilities earlier than redevelopment. They identified that the redevelopment of their current site would have a significant and adverse impact on their business.

I bet Harlow's councillors won't need to propose a motion opposing continued attempts to promote the redevelopment of the current Princess Alexandra Hospital!

To end on - I'm so glad that the Mayor agrees with new hospital campaigners on one point that he made when he said "Now it's time to deliver hospital facilities fit for the 21st century for staff and patients" - can anyone really believe he was referring to a partially redeveloped Watford General Hospital?

Andy Love

St Albans