This afternoon, I met with the team at NHS Property Services who are leading the plans to redevelop the Northwood and Pinner Cottage hospital site. I understand there are very mixed views on these proposals locally.
In terms of the hospital redevelopment, I think we need to be cautious about what we object to. What we currently have is the possibility of a new site which is approximately 50% larger than the existing site. I have two concerns in opposing the plans. The first is that we will push the timeline for this project many years back; this debate has been going on for 17 years already and if we keep having the same discussions we could easily find ourselves in the same position in another 17 years time. The second is that we should be careful about making out that there is a lack of love for the existing building. I have heard a number of people say “we should just knock it down and start a fresh”, and while I can see the attraction of something like that, the NHS may turn around and say that if there is no great love for this site they will sell it and put something at Mount Vernon instead. This is hypothetical of course, but I am highlighting the need to be careful what we wish for.
Turning to look at the land sale and future housing development, I again think we need to take a step back and not get carried away with this. While there was a lot of detail on landscaping and brick choice in the presentation, this is again all quite hypothetical. Once the land is sold, a future developer could apply for something very different and the buildings might be different in design as well. This is not to say that we don’t need to get this part of the project right, but I just think the reality of that project will probably be different to what we have been shown.
While this is an NHS project and it is ultimately a decision for them, I will continue to discuss this with the team leading this within the NHS, colleagues at Hillingdon and local residents to try and ensure we have a shared view going forward. I have included some pictures below to give an idea about what has been suggested but you can follow the progress at the public site here; Project • Plans for the Northwood and Pinner Cottage Hosp... (communitystream.co.uk).
