The three sites are similar in many ways:
• They are all big enough for the new hospital and are all on agricultural land.
• They are all considered greenfield, which means they have not been developed and evaluation has found they are all suitable for development.
• Detailed town planning processes will have to be followed for any site chosen, but feedback so far has not identified any significant planning issues.
• They are all close to small towns with similar local amenities such as shops, schools, housing etc.
• The local towns and areas would see economic benefit by having a nearby hospital, but it has not been possible to decide if this would be different per site given how close they are.
• They are all within the original zone for the new hospital, between and including Narberth and St Clears.
• It is acknowledged that traffic flow to hospitals in our communities is heavier in the summer months. Due to how close the sites are to each other, this is a common consideration for all our sites.
• Whitland and St Clears (and therefore the three sites) are served by bus routes connecting to Haverfordwest and Carmarthen. All sites would require more bus services to connect communities. They would need more frequent services, running over longer periods of the day, to suit the needs of shift workers and visitors.
• All sites have gas, electricity, and water available to the site, but there would be a need for significant upgrades.
• Improvement to local roads and traffic management would also be needed on all sites, but they all have potential for more than one access point.
• The cost of building the new hospital is estimated to be the same on all sites (estimate £736.9m) but there are some additional costs to securing or adapting each site. You can also see more detail about this by reading the report called the Site Cost Summary.
• For all sites we could design the buildings to make the most of sunlight and the natural environment, not only in the outdoor spaces but within the buildings themselves (biophilic design, which is discussed further here (opens in new window).
• There is an aspiration for all sites to be supported by ‘place-making’ which is a process of creating quality places that people want to live, work, play and learn in.
• The sites do not lie within a Special Area of Conservation and do not require added work associated with prevention of phosphate pollution.
• A historic and desktop-based review of all sites showed no significant sources of contamination.
• Potential environment effects cannot be ruled out on any of the sites at this stage and so all of them would likely need a statutory Environmental Impact Assessment to support a planning application