£3.5 million multi-storey car park plan for New Cross Hospital

Work on the Wolverhampton hospital's car park will get under way in the next 12 months and it is due to be completed by 2020.

A hospital board report describes the car park as one of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s ‘major strategic schemes’ in the next five years.

Wolverhampton Conservative group leader Wendy Thompson welcomed the plans and said she was ‘not surprised’ trust bosses had made the decision.

Councillor Thompson, who also sits on the council’s health scrutiny board, said: “At times it can be very difficult to find a parking space for visitors.

“I also know the hospital has lots of staff who need to park near the hospital.

“As a result I’m not surprised they are looking for more car parking space.

"Going for a multi-storey to get the necessary number of places will make a difference, particularly if they’ve got extended pathology services coming in.

“I think the hospital is doing wonderful work.”

The report, for a board meeting on Monday, says: “Work on the new multi-storey car park is due to start in 18/19 and complete in 19/20 in conjunction with the construction of the Black Country Pathology Extension.”

Chiefs have earmarked £300,000 for the project in 2018-19 and a further £3.2m in 2019-20.

Currently, it is not known exactly where the new car park will be built on the New Cross site or how many spaces it will include.

But the plans come just four years after another £4 million multi-storey car park with 527 spaces opened at the hospital, to help relieve pressure.

The car park was built in a bid to tackle increasing visitor numbers and to stop nearby roads from getting clogged.

Residents in Wednesfield have long complained of patients and staff blocking streets.