PROPOSALS to build a multi-storey car park next door to a hospice for the care of the terminally ill have today sparked angry reactions.Ipswich Hospital want to build the 465-space car park in Pearson Road to relieve pressure on parking spaces at Heath Road when the new Garrett Anderson Centre is built.

PROPOSALS to build a multi-storey car park next door to a hospice for the care of the terminally ill have today sparked angry reactions.

Ipswich Hospital want to build the 465-space car park in Pearson Road to relieve pressure on parking spaces at Heath Road when the new Garrett Anderson Centre is built.

But staff at the neighbouring St Elizabeth Hospice say it will cause severe intrusion on their site.

Lesley Cockerton, chief executive of the hospice, said: "There is a sense that there is pressure for the whole application to go through without proper regard to traffic management and control.

"Security and environmental factors such as noise and air pollution, and layout planning for daylight and sunlight also do not seem to have been considered."

She added the building is completely out of scale, material, character and keeping to the surrounding area and that its proximity to the hospice will destroy the tranquil setting patients and families currently enjoy.

Mrs Cockerton said the hospice had received no prior communication from the hospital, only finding out about it when they received a letter from Ipswich Borough Council after the application was submitted.

Nicholas Ridley, chairman of the hospice, said: "The coming and going of traffic, within yards of the hospice boundary, will be extremely disruptive and potentially distressing, for our patients and families."

Hospice staff met with hospital bosses last week to discuss their concerns but say they still feel the application should be declined.

Steve Harrup, director of estates and facilities at Ipswich Hospital, said: "We are having a look to see if there are some minor things we can do to take into account some of their concerns.

"We are working through some of these issues with the planners at the moment but it is a balancing act.

"We have got to resolve some of our parking problems but we will look sensitively at some of the points that have been raised."

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