New car park at Fairfield Hospital could reduce ambulance delays

A new car park is set to be created at Fairfield Hospital to ease a chronic shortage of spaces leading to ‘widespread obstructive parking’. Documents in support of a planning application to Bury Council said the current lack of parking at the hospital compound has led to on-street parking, often on double yellow lines, which has ‘created problems for safe circulation and blue light access around the site’.

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA), who operate the hospital have submitted a retrospective application for the development of a temporary car park with 97 spaces. The site was formerly occupied by nurses’ accommodation buildings which were demolished in late 2023.

The accommodation buildings were no longer fit-for-purpose and had lain empty and disused for a number of years. The car park will be primarily allocated for hospital staff which the trust said will free up space for patients and visitors elsewhere on site.

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A statement in support of the plans, said: “The development is primarily to alleviate parking pressure at Fairfield Hospital providing much needed additional staff parking provision within the hospital. “Additionally, the increased capacity of health care facilities and hospital visits at Fairfield Hospital have added pressure to the limited car parking spaces within the existing hospital ground, which prompted the need for the development of a temporary car park.”

A transport assessment in support of the plans illustrated the parking pressures at the site despite the recent addition of 90 visitor spaces. The report, said: “Demand for visitor parking currently outstrips supply. Parking surveys