A CITIZENS’ jury has heard evidence from campaigners putting the cases for the location of a new Forest hospital .

The £11 million hospital will be located in or near either Cinderford, Coleford or Lydney.

The jury will be asked to vote on Friday for its preferred location although the exact site will not form part of its deliberations.

It will form a recommendation to Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning who will make the final decisions on location and site.

On Monday afternoon, its first day sitting at Forest Hills Golf Club in Coleford, the jury was assured no decision had been made and it was not a “rubber stamp”.

The first to give evidence on Tuesday were members of the Friends of Lydney Hospital and Lydney Town Council, followed by the Coleford presentation from town mayor Cllr Nick Penny and council colleague Cllr Marilyn Cox, and the Cinderford case presented by the chairman of Cinderford Town Council, Cllr Chris Witham.

The Lydney case presented by John Thurston, deputy town mayor Cllr Brian Pearman, Angela Davies and Tony Midgeley was based on it being the “most accessible” of the three towns with a growing population.

“Lydney lends itself to becoming the health care hub for the Forest,” said Cllr Pearman. “And with the population growing, projections show it will have fewer patient miles by 18 per cent than the other two.”

The Friends provided a “unique support and legacy” with £1.5m in assets to support services and fundraising of £100,000 per year, while any future hospital site would be large, said the group.

Official predictions showed the town’s planned scale of expansion, by up to 2,000 new homes, would be equal to that of Coleford, Cinderford and Newent taken together.

Lydney and Dilke medical officer Dr Stefan Scheuner also identified the A48 ease of access for emergency and acute services, plus future housing for staff recruitment and retention.

Describing it as “the town of the future”, John Thurston said: “Lydney is first for population, first for access and first for community support - 111 - like the emergency number.”

Cllr Cox for Coleford said the town would also see its population grow by 23 per cent based on future house building, while it had been identified as a key place in the county’s NHS sustainabilty and transformation plan, and its population was above average in all 11 health categories of deprivation

Cllr Nick Penny added that the town was “surrounded by a green belt”, with potential sites identified, which was important for the well-being criteria laid down by the NHS, and it was central to the Forest, with bus service frequencies two to four times better than its rivals alongside other community transport service links.

“We really believe we have the strongest transport links to the hub of the Forest.” he added. “And as regards community support, we were the only one of the three towns with a majority (54 per cent) in favour of a single hospital.”

Cllr Witham, who works for the NHS outside the Forest in leadership planning, said there were five main reasons for backing the Cinderford bid – ease of access, availability to all Foresters, existing multi-agency work with health groups in the town, strong transport links and the Dilke’s heritage.

“With the A48 and A40, we always have back-up route in the event of a hold-up, unlike our rivals, which is important for patients and staff. It’s vitally important in the case of heart attacks and strokes where every minute counts getting someone to an acute centre, and journey times are also significantly shorter.”

A Cinderford hospital could cater for people in the north and south more readily, while the high levels of deprivation in and around the town meant many in Cinderford didn’t have private transport to travel elsewhere.

The town council was the first of its kind to sign up to the Forest of Dean Dementia Action Alliance, while Cinderford also supported the Health and Wellbeing project and the Forest Voluntary Action Forum.

The new Northern Quarter development would give the opportunity to strengthen transport links, while the 95-year history of the Dilke showed the community was geared up for a holistic approach to health care in the Forest.

“Cinderford is often called the Heart of the Forest, and we believe having the heart of health care in the heart of the Forest is key,” he said.

Owen Adams of campaign group HOLD (Hands off Lydney and Dilke), who want to keep the current two hospitals, said after hearing the presentations: “I think what they have shown is that centralisation just doesn’t work in the Forest.

“For instance, one minute Newent is part of the discussion for the Forest, next they are supposed to go to Tewkesbury, while its people have far more of a connection with Cinderford

“Any single hospital arrangement is going to deprive part of the Forest. Unfortunately, the citizens’ jury should be considering whether we retain two hospitals as part of its remit, but that’s not been allowed.

“It’s not asking the right questions.”

The jury is being ‘facilitated’ by two experts on citizens’ juries from the Jefferson Centre which is based in Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota in the United States.

The process has been organised by Citizens’ Juries, a community interest company based in Manchester, and its director, Malcolm Oswald was questioned about the perception that the decisions about the location and site have already been taken.

A juror said: “People believe the decision has already been made and this is a rubber-stamping exercise.”

Mr Oswald said it was “very hard to stamp out conspiracy theories.”

He added: “I’ve heard from people that they think it Lydney, it’s Coleford, it’s Cinderford and they think it is going to be on a particular site. That is just not true.”

The jury’s vote will be taken at a public session on Friday (August 3) and the recommendation announced that day.

The decision the location will be made by the boards of Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group at the end of August.

The boards could go against the recommendation of the jury but they would have to give reasons for the decision,” said Mr Oswald.