Philip Aylett, coordinator, New Hospital Campaign

The ‘new’ Watford General Hospital will feature a row of three high-rises, with one reaching 20 storeys, well over 250 feet.

This is made clear in a glossy and expensive-looking new PR video from the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust.

The problem with these plans is not just the height, but the way the towers will be closely packed together on a cramped site. There will be just 15 metres between them, with very little light and space.

Surely patients and staff deserve to see more daylight? By contrast, Watford Council requires residential buildings to be at least 22 metres apart. This proposal is also very bad news for the many people who oppose the rise of unsightly and oppressive tall tower blocks across Watford.

Watford Borough Council has responded to widespread local opposition to the increase in tower blocks by including building height restrictions in its new Local Plan. For the area in which the hospital stands, that means that no building should be more than six storeys high.

The trust is ignoring this policy. It wants to build something that is at least three times the height limit. Why does the trust think it can make a mockery of local planning policy in this way?

The Local Plan allows for a building to exceed the height restriction, but it must "clearly demonstrate outstanding design quality" which sets it apart "in terms of quality and distinctiveness". The trust’s new design fails to meet this demanding test. The design of the new hospital facility will be of poor quality, like the grim estates built across our large cities in the 1960s – and torn down in the 1990s.

As well as blowing a large hole in the Local Plan, this design would change the nature of the Vicarage Road area with its largely low-rise residential buildings

There are some people who will be happy if the council approve these proposals – the big property developers. With the town’s Local Plan undermined by undistinguished hospital development, developers will seize on this clear precedent and push hard for a tower block free-for-all. The council, and the people of Watford, will have no credible defence.

The Watford General site is not fit for purpose, and the trust’s latest impractical design effort shows this very starkly. Seven more years as a building site will make the hospital even less of a healing environment. 

Alternatives on clear, new accessible sites could offer a better environment and much easier access. 
They must be explored urgently.