Hillingdon Hospital was granted planning permission for 48 additional car parking spaces, after previously cancelling plans to tackle parking shortages due to cost .

New plans, approved by Hillingdon Council subject to the hospital meeting conditions, will see a scheme providing a 'net increase' of 48 surface spaces in two locations.

The new spaces aim to help alleviate the problems caused by vehicles queuing on Pield Heath Road to enter the site.

The hospital's NHS Foundation Trust previously secured planning permission to build a temporary single-deck car park on its Pield Heath Road site in December 2014.

The development would have created an extra 89 spaces for the next five years, adding to the existing car park's 390 spots.

Patients and staff have to battle for space at Hillingdon Hospital, causing tailbacks along Pield Heath Road


But last summer the Trust made a u-turn on the decision, with a spokesperson saying: "The costs to build the car park deck are now significantly greater than originally envisaged."

The alternative scheme, approved at a Major Planning Applications Meeting on February 9, will see 16 spaces within the grass verge along Pield Heath Road to the north of the hospital and 41 spaces within the green space surrounding the Greenacres Centre to the south.

'Diabolical waiting times'

But The Community Voice, an independent group that monitors NHS services in North West London and South West Hertfordshire, says more will need doing in the long-term.

Secretary Margaret Ross said: "I suppose it's a start but we need a lot more spaces.

"It's diabolical there – you need to get there at least half an hour earlier to get parking.

"The car park at A&E is terrible too. We just need more parking all over as far as I'm concerned.

"It's good news that we're going to get something but I hope in the future that they'll make provisions for more.

"There just isn't enough money, we've got to face it. Hospitals haven't got enough money for all they want to do at the moment."

An artist's impression shows previous cancelled plans of a temporary car park at the hospital


The additional car parking spaces will go ahead if the Trust can meet conditions laid out by the local authority, such as the applicant meeting reasonable costs and a revised Green Travel Plan.

The proposals show that visitor and patient parking would be separate to staff parking with a total of 244 (56%) spaces for visitors and 194 (44%) for staff.

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust say they will not be in a position to comment on the application until a formal consent has been issued with "clarity on the associated conditions".

A spokesperson for the Trust said: "The London Borough of Hillingdon has made a recommendation to approve an application to provide additional car parking at Hillingdon Hospital.

"The Committee has delegated authority to its officers to finalise and issue a planning consent, subject to the application of various conditions and a Section 106 agreement".