Campaigners claim win as £25m hospital land sale is rejected

Plans by hospital bosses to sell land worth up to £25 million to developers have been thrown out by the Government.

Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield, where the maternity and A&E departments are threatened with closure, had claimed the land was "surplus to requirements".

The developers planned to build 279 houses on it.

The Save Chase Farm campaign group said the decision of a planning appeal was a boost in its fight to keep the departments open. Kieran McGregor, who represents the group on Enfield council, said: "If this had been allowed it would have repeated an all-too familiar pattern where valuable NHS land gets sold off for private housing stock.

"A hospital site is not suitable for high-density housing. It would have meant people were living next to an A&E department with ambulances going in and out all the time. The hospital may have thought they were getting rid of the departments anyway so this didn't matter, but this decision shows the hospital's future is being taken seriously."

A trust spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed. We now have to consider the impact and our options."