Cumberland Infirmary set for new urgent treatment centre

The application was for a site at Cumberland Infirmary in Newtown Road and the project would involve the realignment of an internal access road and alteration to the car parking facilities.

The applicant was North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and planning permission was approved by council planning officers on Thursday (September 5).

According to a historic statement, the hospital sits to the west of the city and has been the subject of significant redevelopment in recent years with a new hospital and cancer centre delivered on the site.

It states: "The proposed development is sited to the east of the Doctor’s Residence (which was formally referred to as Crozier Lodge).

"The Doctor’s Residence was the first health facility on the site, built as a reaction to the epidemics which plagued the 19th Century including smallpox, thymus and enteric fever.

"As a response to the number of ill, the building was erected in the 1820s as a House of Recovery and thereafter a fever hospital. This is a Grade II listed structure."

Crozier Lodge (The Doctor’s Residence) at Cumberland Infirmary. (Image: Cumberland Council Planning Portal)

According to the report the application proposes the provision of the new Urgent Treatment Centre which will be in compliance with national standards and improve the quality of care which can be offered from the Cumberland Infirmary.

It adds: "The design has yet to be formalised but there will be a restricted view of the rear of the Doctor’s Residence.

"The new building will alter the setting of the listed building minimally with the change of view when using the internal access road but does not directly impact any listed building itself with no alterations proposed.

“It is considered that this proposal offers the opportunity to not only improve the facilities offered at the hospital but also improve the overall appearance of this area of the hospital providing a more bespoke arrangement and appearance to the current buildings on site."

The report concludes that the design approach has considered the form, massing and appearance of the proposed new building and proposed an appropriate, high standard of development which will provide the required space in a confined development area.

It adds: "The building is a bespoke response to the provision of the improved services and it is considered that overall the impact will be less than substantial but has then potential to improve the overall appearance of the area.

"The public benefits of the proposed development are significant and considered to outweigh any harm which is caused."