The Bartlet Hospital, Felixstowe.

DEVELOPERS are today in the “final stages” of securing a deal to purchase Felixstowe’s Bartlet Hospital for a luxury homes project.

Campaigner Mike Ninnmey says selling The Bartlet at Felixstowe is a scandal.

Details of the company involved will not be made public until the sale is completed.

The new owners will have consent to convert the old hospital into 19 apartments, its annexe to nine town houses and flats, plus build a terrace of three new town houses in the grounds.

Councillors agreed the developers would not have to provide any affordable homes as part of the project because it would make the scheme unviable.

They also agreed the owners would pay no playspace contributions despite the lack of land on site for gardens and play facilities, and it was decided it was not appropriate for a profit agreement should the development make more cash than expected.

It is understood there were a number of bids for the listed building, which was put on the market with a starting guide price of £600,000.

It is not yet known how much the deal for the former convalescent home – which enjoys panoramic seascape views – is worth.

The cash from the sale is to be used towards a new £1million Grove Medical Centre in Felixstowe to replace Central Surgery.

A spokesman for NHS Suffolk said: “The sale of the Bartlet Hospital site is in the final stages of an agreement.

“Once the deal has been done, the buyer will be announced.”

Campaigners who fought to save the building have been unhappy with both the planning permission and its sale and wanted it kept for a community health facility

“It’s scandalous that a building that was given to the community as a man’s dying wish to be used ‘in perpetuity’ for health is now being sold off in this way,” said Mike Ninnmey, acting co-ordinator for the Bartlet Bequest Action Group.