http://www.burnleycitizen.co.uk/news/ne ... lished.php
'General' to be demolished?
By Samrana Hussain
THE original buildings at Burnley General Hospital are facing demolition, health bosses have revealed.
But the town's civic society has hit out at the demolition plans, saying the four 1876 buildings were among the town's finest architecture.
The three smaller Victorian buildings that face onto Briercliffe Road will definitely be bulldozed.
Health bosses are also proposing to demolish the former main building.
A newer building on the south east corner of the site which houses the dermatology unit is also facing the bulldozers.
But their fate will not be decided until a new service model' on where East Lancashire services are based is drawn up.
Most of the buildings are empty after their wards moved into the new £30million Phase Five extension, which was opened last month.
Bosses do not yet know what - if anything - will be built in their place.
The news comes after health bosses controversially decided to remove Burnley General's capability to handle 999 emergencies to the Royal Blackburn Hospital.
In return under those plans, Burnley will become East Lancashire's centre for treatment of complicated births and also take on more planned treatment.
Coun Roger Frost, a member of the town's civic society, said the buildings should be saved because they were an important part of Burnley's heritage.
He said: "It would be a shame to demolish the buildings.
"This is a sign of what the health authority is doing, closing the place down.
"It's an old building built by Burnley's most well-known architects and is an important stone structure.
"I know the health authority could find use for it. they have spent millions on mantaining it then surely it should be kept.
"Burnley General has been an important part of our history for more than 100 years and people here are very concerned about services being moved out to Blackburn."
However the leader of Burnley Council Gordon Birtwistle backed the plans - as long as people got modern facilities in return.
He said: "I don't mind that the buildings are being knocked down. What people want is decent health services and modern facilities are needed to provide that. What we don't want to see is services moved away from Burnley."
Parts of the Victorian buildings have been boarded up to protect them from vandals. Sections of the former main building are still housing doctors' quarters, a staff gym and a clinic.
A spokesperson for the East Lancashire NHS Hospitals Trust said bosses were waiting for detailed service models before making any final decisions on the future of the former main building.
He said: "We will continue to invest in the Burnley General Hospital estate as it develops into the centre for most planned inpatient services for East Lancashire.
"We are now at the stage where the work on the detailed service models is now almost complete and we are beginning to work through the detail of the estates issues.
"Until we have done this we are unable to provide further information on what will happen to individual buildings."
The buildings were originally built as an infirmary and a workhouse for the poor.
It was built away from the main town so that the inmates from the workhouse, which closed in 1929, did not come into contact with the townsfolk.
The buildings were designed by one of Burnley's best-known architects, William Angelo Waddington.
Waddington was also responsible for Burnley Grammar School, School Lane, now demolished, Imperial Chambers, Manchester Road and the former Methodist Chapel, also Manchester Road. Just a spire now remains of that building.
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