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Town Council calls for comprehensive vision for Horton following funding bid failure
27/07/2023
Banbury Town Council reaffirms its commitment to supporting the hospital, its users and staff
Banbury Town Council has spoken out on the news that the Horton General has missed out on £370m of funding to rebuild the hospital on its Oxford Road site. On Monday Banbury FM exclusively revealed that the Oxford University Hospital Trust’s bid to the government’s New Hospital Programme had not been successful.
The Trust learned of the government’s decision in May, but only revealed the news in a message to us at the start of the week.
A joint statement issued by the Leader of the Council Conservative Councillor Keiron Mallon and the Leader of the Labour Group Councillor Shaida Hussain questions why the Trust didn’t share the news when they found out in May.
The statement says Banbury Town Council remains fully committed to supporting our local hospital, its users and staff and calls on the Trust to provide an ambitious and sustainable vision and Plan B following the news.
Town Councillors are also urging MP Victoria Prentis to continue working positively with the Trust and other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to provide a functioning hospital for Banbury and the area.
The full statement says: “Following the eventual disclosure by the Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust that the Horton Hospital will not be included in the New Hospital Programme, Banbury Town Council remains fully committed to support our local hospital, its users and staff.
“We call on the Oxford Trust to provide its comprehensive ‘Vision for the Horton’. At various meetings with the Trust at Banbury Town Hall over the years, local Cllrs of both major parties have repeatedly set party politics aside and asked NHS planners for an ambitious and sustainable vision and Plan B for our much-loved hospital in the absence of the government’s welcome ‘new hospitals’ funding. We again call on the Oxford University Hospital Trust to share that Plan B with the people of North Oxfordshire.
“We ask the Trust to explore every avenue open to it, including the selling of the existing site for housing and rebuilding on a new accessible site to provide healthcare for the catchment of the Horton, which spreads over three counties. We maintain that major improvements to the Horton can and should be made, provided that the Trust invests in it and takes steps to secure reasonable ‘top up’ funding from the Department for Health and Social Care.
“We ask why the Trust sat on the news since May and did not share it with anyone in the Banbury area, local councils or our MP. We call upon our MP Victoria Prentis to continue working positively with the Trust and all other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to provide a functioning hospital for Banbury and its catchment villages in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam