A £7 MILLION scheme to extend Wellesley Hospital on the outskirts of Wellington is going before planners.

Montpelier Estates, which built the hospital at Westpark 26, has applied to ‘erect a 30-bedroom care and treatment facility on land adjacent to Wellesley Hospital, Chelston’.

The plan is to provide a rehabilitation hospital on 1.2 acres of land across the road from the hospital’s car park and behind the Budgen’s convenience store and petrol filling station.

It would be a 30-bed low-secure mental healthcare facility creating 45 full-time equivalent jobs on top of the 200 jobs at Wellesley Hospital.

It would accommodate people with learning difficulties and mental health issues, providing them with a feeling of being ‘at home’.

The buildings would be mostly two-storey with some reaching three storeys.

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.