PLANS for a new hospital in Selby have received a boost with the partnership behind the scheme putting in a multi-million pound bid for Government funding.

Selby District Council, North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), North Yorkshire County Council, York Hospitals Trust and local GP representatives have formed a partnership to rebuild Selby War Memorial Hospital, in Doncaster Road.

The partnership has now placed a bid with the Strategic Health Authority for the NHS in Yorkshire and Humber.

The project involves demolishing the current premises and building a new hospital and offices for the district and county councils on the site.

Coun Mark Crane, the district council leader, said: "The district council is playing a key role in this project, which will benefit all the organisations that deliver key public services in the Selby area.

"We will all be able to benefit from the new facilities proposed for the site, which will see the hospital, Civic Centre and county council offices all housed within a single building.

"This will enable us to further develop our partnership working in a number of service areas. Joining forces will also help all of us to further reduce overheads by pooling resources and minimising maintenance costs, compared to the present situation whereby we all run a number of different sites."

Selby MP John Grogan said: "The project is now at the stage of being considered for a slice of the money available through the Government's community hospitals fund announced recently.

"One of the key priorities for the NHS at the moment is to further develop more community-based services to enable people to access the care they need close to their home.

"One of the key priorities for local authorities is to better integrate their work.

"This project goes a long way to enabling all the organisations involved to achieve these aims and benefit from state-of-the-art facilities."

He said the project team had been working to put together the funding bid, as well as looking at resources already identified by the partners.

The bid document will now be submitted to the strategic health authority and a decision made by the Department of Health on whether to award the funds.