Plans to build a new hospital on a town centre site in Dover have been backed by health chiefs.

The Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust supported the proposal and said that talks would take place on whether more bed-based facilities were needed.

PCT chief executive Ann Sutton said not only would the proposed building meet the criteria set via public meetings and improve the hospital environment, but also the range of services provided locally for Dover people.

She assured the trust meeting that services will be brought back to Dover well before the hospital is built.

Further work will be undertaken over the coming months to review existing rehabilitation and recuperation services that are provided in peoples own homes, or in residential care beds, in the area.

GPs, working with the PCT and social services, will then decide whether more bed-based facilities are required and commission those services locally.

Colin Tomson, chairman of the PCT, said: "This is a good news story for Dover. We hope that local people will be pleased the uncertainty is over and we can move forward with partner organisations to deliver a new hospital by 2011/2012."

Earlier during the meeting campaigners who want a new hospital built at Whitfield were warned they would be removed after constant heckling of speakers.

Town councillor David Hannant, who works as a surveyor, refuted claims by the PCT that it would be cheaper to buy land in the town centre than at Whitfield.

"The PCT has a duty to provide the people of Dover with the services they want, and what they want is a hospital at Whitfield," he said.