COUNCILLORS have given the go ahead to a new multi-million-pound hospice.

Plans to build the new £15.4million Fair Havens Hospice opposite Priory Park in Southend were unanimously granted planning approval during a Development Committee meeting on August 1.

Councillor Steve Buckley, of the St Laurence ward, praised the proposal as a development that residents will be able to be proud of.

“This looks like it will be a place of great support and care for its patients,” he told the committee.

The proposed development will be a part single storey and part two-storey building, made up of a 16-bedroom hospice, a day care centre and treatment facilities.

The in-patient wing will have 16 en-suite bedrooms within the single storey western side of the building. Each room will have access to a small private outside space.

The eastern wing, which is the two-storey part of the development, will house most of the out-patient facilities including a therapy rooms, a gym, lounge, craft workshop, and salon and beauty room. There will also be a communal garden.

Planning officers told the committee that following a public consultation they had not received any objections to the proposals.

However, councillors on the committee expressed some concerns over road safety due to a tight right turn onto the site from Priory Crescent.

Committee chair, councillor David Garston said he felt “very strongly” about the plans and would therefore put forward an amendment to alleviate committee concerns by requesting that the right-hand turn is removed from the plan.

The need for the new hospice has become essential due to the current strain on the existing Fair Havens Hospice on Chalkwell Avenue in Westcliff, where services have become so stretched that 11 patients must be turned away each month because there are not enough suitable rooms.

Conservative councillor Alan Ward, of the Belfairs ward, said: “The situation at current hospice is that there are only six beds and there is a great need for more, so I fully support the proposal.”

A Havens Hospice fundraising campaign was launched in May to raise £2.5million to go towards the cost of the development, so far it has raised £100,000.