HOSPITAL bosses should get together with Havens Hospices and thrash out a deal for the charity’s new home.

That is the view of campaigners, who want Havens to abandon its plans to create a new £15million base on green belt land in Leigh.

Those proposals ran into trouble this week when planning officers at Southend Council recommended it is refused by councillors when they meet next Wednesday.

But officers held up a vast swathe of land at Fossetts Farm, bought by Southend Hospital for a now-defunct expansion plan, as a potentially ideal replacement.

Former council leader Anna Waite, who has been a firm opponent of building on the green belt, said: “If it is owned by the hospital, it is owned by the taxpayer and there is a deal to be done there.

“It’s not going to be as beautiful as Leigh, but if the orientation is right, the hospital could look out over the Roach Valley in one direction and the ancient monument the other way. Those would be lovely views.”

Mike King, a member of protest group Save Our Green Belt, added: “The land at Fossetts Farm has been set aside for just this sort of purpose.

“It has had planning permission in the past for developments.

“I can’t see why it wouldn’t be an ideal option.”

Havens named the green belt land off Belton Way West, Leigh, as its chosen option for its new home earlier this year.

The charity cited the site’s views, as well as its accessibility, as a prime reason for its desirability.

But planning officers argued Havens had aspired to creating the perfect hospice and that did not give it the right to build on the green belt.

Andy Lewis, the council’s corporate director of the environment, pointed out the Fossetts Farm site was close to major roads and had already been given planning permission in 2005 for a £100million diagnostics centre. The hospital bought the land for £2.4million in preparation for that development, but the plan collapsed two years later when the Government refused to stump up the cash.

In its planning application for the Belton Way West site, Havens confirmed it had approached hospital bosses about the site.

However, the charity said it was put off by the £1million-an-acre price tag slapped on the land by the health trust.

Both Havens and the hospital declined to comment further on the issue.