Annie Saunders, in the Chronicle letters page of April 4, is certainly right that “the obvious place” for the new North Hampshire NHS Hospital “would be between the two major conurbations” of Winchester and Basingstoke. 

As she points out, “people in Basingstoke would be up in arms, deluging the Basingstoke Gazette with letters of complaint, if the new hospital was sited in Winchester.” 

There is an obvious location between the two conurbations in plain sight which has the capacity for the new hospital and far preferable to it being out at Junction 7 of the M3 on the edge of Basingstoke. 
The obvious place which can be the compromise acceptable to all the communities is the land available at Micheldever Station, equidistant between the towns of Basingstoke, Winchester and Andover, which has a rail station and excellent road access as well. 

As promoter of the land at Micheldever Station, I can confirm that the site is available. An additional new factor since the NHS last considered our site almost five years ago is that the Basingstoke local plan now proposes development of a garden village at Popham which will bring large scale residential development to the area and new housing for potential staff for a new hospital in the area. 

The case for a new hospital, other employment uses and sustainable housing development on the other side of the A303 at Micheldever Station makes even more sense than it did in 2020. We have accordingly submitted our representation to the recent NHS consultation calling for the choice of site to be reconsidered to better serve the local populations within its catchment. 

Shane O’Flynn,
O’Flynn Group,
Grange Drive,
Southampton 

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