DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott is being asked to choose a site for a new district general hospital at Tunbridge Wells as soon as possible.

Local Conservative MP Archie Norman has stressed that the area has already been waiting six years just to get the go-ahead for a new hospital. Now the sticking point is where to put it.

The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust wants to use its existing Pembury Hospital site. But Kilmartin Properties has submitted an alternative plan to create a new hospital on greenfield land at Knights Park, Tunbridge Wells.

Both are now awaiting a Government ruling on which should be the preferred option and Mr Norman is keen to drive the project forward.

He said: "John Hutton, the Minister for Health, has told me it is not possible to proceed with either site 'until the legal planning proceedings have concluded'.

"The Knights Park site affords the best chance of completion within five years and a quick decision is critical.

"I've therefore written again to the Deputy Prime Minister asking him to bring the folder to the top of his in-tray so that the NHS Trust knows where it stands as soon as possible."