West Suffolk Council will decide whether to grant planning permission to build a new multi-million-pound state-of-the-art West Suffolk Hospital on Wednesday (November 30).

If planning permission is granted, the new hospital is projected to be built by 2030 as part of the government's New Hospitals Programme.

The plans detail that the new hospital would be created in a mature parkland setting covering an area of up to 100,000 square metres, plus a multi-storey car park, while Hardwick Manor will be converted for hospital uses.

The current main hospital, which opened in the early 1970s and was built with now-crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), will be demolished once the new facilities are ready.

However, some facilities on the Hardwick Lane site will stay - the catering block, the Macmillan Unit, Quince House, Education Centre, Wedgwood House, Day Surgery Unit and Eye Treatment Centre, staff accommodation, Busy Bees Nursery and St Nicholas Hospice.

In the agenda document for the meeting, it is noted that the most significant amendment to the application since it was first submitted is the replacement of the proposed new roundabout with a light-controlled junction, in response to safety concerns raised by Suffolk County Council Highways.

Other changes include reducing where possible the maximum heights of the new hospital and the introduction of an onsite public bus interchange.

Following a recommendation that the application be refused in August, Bury St Edmunds Town Council has, as of this month, now recommended the application for approval.

However, it added that councillors "raise transport concerns", including the consideration of a park and ride facility and "seek assurances that part of the current site will not be sold for redevelopment".

Horringer cum Ickworth Parish Council has objected to the application, raising safety concerns about the main construction compound access.

Though the Suffolk County Council (SCC) Highway Authority submitted an objection to the application in May, as it did not "prioritise the promotion of sustainable transport", it has now recommended the amended application as "acceptable, subject to the recommended highway conditions".

The meeting of the Development Control Committee will take place at 10am on Wednesday, November 30, at West Suffolk House in Bury St Edmunds.