Plans to spend £200 million on the redevelopment of St Helier Hospital took a major step forward on Thursday night when Sutton Council approved the NHS Trust’s planning application.

The plans include demolishing a large part of the hospital and replacing it with a state-of-the-art building which will house the majority of the hospital’s wards and clinics.

In addition, nearly £40 million will be spent on upgrading the remainder of the site, including those wards which will not be moved into the new building. There will also be a new central pharmacy and decked car park.

The new building will include 346 beds, with more than 50 per cent being in single rooms.

Samantha Jones, chief executive said: “St Helier is long overdue a major upgrade and our proposals will drastically improve the environment in which we care for our patients. It will also improve the working lives of our staff and volunteers.

“We are very pleased that Sutton Council liked our designs for the redevelopment and I would like to thank them for their continued support of the scheme.”

The proposals for the redevelopment of St Helier are currently with the Treasury and Department of Health awaiting final approval.

For them to grant approval, the Trust had to secure outline planning permission from the council. The Treasury and Department of Health are expected to make a final decision shortly.

Tom Brake, Carshalton and Wallington MP, said: “The Treasury’s signature on the cheque is now the final hurdle before this critical project steams ahead. Gordon Brown must immediately honour his pledge to make sure no obstacles are in the way of this project and give it a green light.”

Councillor Sean Brennan, leader of Sutton Council, said the redevelopment plans have been “a long time coming”.

He said: “It’s now up to the Government to deliver the promised funding and speed along the much-needed redevelopment.”

For more information about the redevelopment visit epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk.