PROPOSALS for a new £225 million hospital at Pembury near Tunbridge Wells has moved a step closer to reality.

The news follows a Government announcement that the plans for the new hospital have passed affordability and value for money checks.

But the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust’s business case for the project still needs Treasury and ministerial approval before construction can begin.

Providing that is given, health bosses hope building work can begin later this year and that the new hospital could open to patients as soon as 2010.

The hospital will have 512 beds and a 42-bed mental health unit.

Greg Clark, the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells, said the new hospital was tantalisingly close to becoming a reality.

He stressed: "We will have one of the finest hospitals in Britain on our doorstep."

The hospital will replace both the existing Pembury and Kent and Sussex hospitals.

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