King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital submits multi-storey car park plans after residents give feedback on proposals

Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital has submitted a full planning application for a multi-storey car park to be built on the site after hundreds of residents had their say on the proposals.

A new car park is a key 'enabler' for a much-needed new hospital scheme, which would be built on the site of the existing main car park.

As well as addressing immediate parking needs, building a multi-storey car park will "demonstrate that QEH is ready to deliver a new hospital as soon as funding is secured and a positive announcement is made about QEH being added to the New Hospital Programme list," a spokesperson said.

The planning application also gives an overview of how the public engaged with the proposals and the key themes that have emerged from the feedback received in a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI).

The SCI also describes how the plans for the car park have been amended in response to this feedback.

More than 280 people attended meetings and exhibitions about the proposals and more than 390 people responded to a questionnaire.

Overall, the QEH said the feedback showed there was "strong support" for a multi-storey car park and gave the Trust additional insights into patient and visitor experience of parking.

It said that common themes in response to the proposals included:

• providing more parking spaces, and having sufficient spaces to meet future demand
• ensuring there is sufficient and dedicated parking for staff
• concerns around traffic congestion on site and on the roads around QEH
• keeping parking costs to a minimum and offering a range of ways to pay for parking
• ensuring the new car park is easy to use, safe and accessible to everyone

In response to the feedback a number of changes have been made to the plans. Among others, this includes:

• changes to the road layout around the car park entrance to ease traffic congestion
• confirming that the new car park will be pay on exit and payment by app will be an option
• using automatic number plate recognition technology to allow for barrier-less exits, making it faster to enter and exit the car park
• increasing the size of individual parking spaces to make it easier to park and get in and out of vehicles
• using colour coding and improving signage to help people find their way around the car park and find spaces
• locating blue badge spaces on the ground floor and ensuring enough height clearance for these spaces to accommodate mobility vehicles
• enhancing the external planting and soft landscaping to further improve the look and feel of the environment around the car park

Laura Skaife-Knight, deputy chief executive at QEH, said: “We are very grateful for all the feedback we received during the engagement period – from our local community, partners and staff – which has been essential in helping develop and refine our plans.

"The simple truth is that our buildings are in a desperate state and have reached the end of their life and we must secure the necessary capital investment for a new hospital.

"The multi-storey car park proposal is a critical component of the scheme and shows we are ‘investment ready’.

"Submitting our planning application, that takes into account the feedback we heard on the plans, is an important step in building our future.”

The full Statement of Community Involvement can be viewed on the Trust website.

The planning application - once validated - will be open to public comment on West Norfolk Council's planning portal for the normal 21-day statutory consultee period.

The council's planning committee will then consider the application and a decision is expected to be made early next year.

If the planning application is approved and the necessary funding is agreed, work will begin on the new car park in spring 2023.

A spokesperson added: "During the engagement period, the Trust heard, once again, the depth of support for its plans to bring a new hospital to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk as the current estate reaches the end of its life.

"The Trust continues to wait to find out if it has made it onto the list for the Government’s eight further hospital schemes and continues to push its compelling case on all fronts."