HEALTH bosses have described the selection of a developer to build the new £300million Pembury Hospital as "fantastic news".

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust says choosing the Equion Consortium to design and construct the hospital is a "major milestone".

Construction work is planned to start in the autumn of 2007 - providing the project gets Government approval.

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark (Con) welcomed the announcement but said he would be keeping up "remorseless pressure" on the Government to approve the scheme. A decision is expected in March.

Mr Clark said: "To any fair-minded person the case for the new hospital is overwhelming. It’s now down to the Government to treat us fairly and take the right decision."

The trust is working with Equion, a division of builders John Laing, to complete detailed designs for the 512-bed hospital and 42-bed mental health unit.

The 65,000 sq metre Pembury PFI will be the first acute hospital in the country with 100 per cent single rooms, all with ensuite facilities.

The seven-storey building will house planned and emergency surgery, orthopaedics, a women and children’s zone, day case theatres and outpatient services.

Trust chief executive Rose Gibb said the selection of Equion was "fantastic news".

Equion project director Jackie Churchward-Cardiff said the hospital would "set a new standard for patient care in this country".