THE future of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital will be debated at a consultation meeting on Thursday at the city's Westgate Hall. The meeting starts at 7pm and is one of a series of meetings being held around east Kent to gather public views on the proposed options before the consultation ends on Thursday, February 28.

Radio Kent's breakfast show presenter John Warnett will chair the evening, which is expected to begin with a short film explaining why the hospitals must change. Presentations will be made be guest speakers before a question and answer session.

Canterbury City Council is supporting the trust's Option C, but is calling for retention of full cancer and relevant support services at the hospital to ensure all cancer patients from across east Kent can be treated locally.

The council's three group leaders have urged the public to attend the consultation meetings and write letters to make their views known.

Conservative group leader Cllr Harry Cragg said: "It is vital that people put pen to paper.

"Every letter sent, providing it concerns the options proposed, will have to be considered and recorded."

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group Cllr Martin Vye said: "Many people have signed petitions and have responded to a local newspaper survey, but individual letters carry tremendous weight."

Labour group leader Cllr Ron Pepper added: "The campaign does not end with ticking a box or signing a petition - that is only the beginning."

Similar consultation evenings have already been held in Faversham and Herne Bay, and a march through Whitstable is planned before a meeting at the Umbrella Centre on Saturday afternoon.