West Suffolk Hospital needs to transport more than two acres of fungi to rural locations after rare species were found.
Two planning applications were submitted after the discovery of waxcaps and other fungi on the grounds of the new hospital site at Hardwick Manor.
The new hospital, on the grounds of the manor house, was granted planning permission in May.
This permission required turfs of “ecological value” to be relocated, specifically the rare fungi species found at the Hardwick Manor site.
According to the applications, these fungi groups can take decades or even centuries to develop and so the habitat is deemed “irreplaceable”.
A strategy was developed with the help of a Professor from Aberystwyth University who specialises in the fungi species found at the site.
The strategy specified that the turfs must be relocated to within 30km of Hardwick Manor.
Details of the location also had to be submitted before the new development could be started.
The plans are to relocate the existing turfs to two rural villages near Hadleigh – off Sheepden Lane in Lindsey, and off Ash Street to the south of Semer.
The sites will receive 0.5 hectares of fungi each, transported in 2m by 1m turf cuts.
The two applications were submitted by West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to Babergh District Council in July and are awaiting a decision.
Originally, an application was submitted for a third site in Raydon, but this has now been withdrawn following an assessment of soil conditions.
Jacqui Grimwood, estates workstream lead for the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust's future systems programme, said: “As part of our ecology planning obligations for the new hospital, the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is translocating approximately one hectare of fungi from its current location to a new site to conserve it and enable it to reproduce.
“Planning applications were submitted to assess the suitability of three sites with the plan to advance two, subject to technical evaluation.
“Following the results of environmental assessments, applications for two sites with the best soil conditions (a site in Semer and a site in Lindsey) have been progressed and the application for Kate’s Hill in Raydon has been withdrawn.”
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