Wester Moffat has gained the required government approval to become the site of the new University Hospital Monklands.
Health secretary Jeane Freeman today wrote to NHS Lanarkshire to confirm the selection of the Airdrie farmland for the new facility and to allow the project to proceed to the next stage.
The site was chosen by board members at a crucial meeting last month, ahead of options at Glenmavis and Gartcosh, which was controversially named as the original choice in 2018 but was reviewed following significant public and political opposition.
Airdrie politicians Neil Gray MP and Alex Neil MSP called the health secretary’s approval “a huge step forward” and “the best start to the year we could have hoped for”.
The health secretary’s official approval of Wester Moffat concludes a site choice process which has lasted nearly three years, first seeing the former Gartcosh steelworks score higher than land at Glenmavis to be declared as the health board’s choice in 2018.
It attracted strong criticism from residents and politicians who petitioned to keep the hospital in the “central Monklands” area, and led to an independent review and a re-run of the location search a year ago which resulted in the emergence of the Wester Moffat site, plus a new public consultation and scoring process carried out in person, online and by post during 2020.
Mr Gray told the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser: “I’m delighted that the health secretary has upheld NHS Lanarkshire’s decision to site the new hospital at Wester Moffat.
“It’s been a long, hard road to get here, and although there is still the outline business case to be approved, we are a huge step forward to getting the modern, state-of-the-art facility that the people of Monklands and beyond deserve.”
Referencing the required future construction of the East Airdrie link road which will provide access to the site, he added: “I will not rest until I see building commencing at Wester Moffat, and the promised transport links in place.”
Constituency colleague Mr Neil agreed: “This decision is the best start to the year that we could have hoped for, and I look forward to the outline business case being approved and work starting on the site in the next few years.
“Until this is done, Neil and I will certainly not rest on our laurels – we have fought for this from the start and will not stop until there is a fantastic, modern hospital to serve the folk of Monklands and the surrounding area.”
