MALVERN may finally have its long-awaited new hospital in 2006.

Health chiefs agreed this week to move two Malvern surgeries to Pickersleigh Road and committed themselves to opening a hospital at Seaford Court in 2006.

Malvern Hills District Council unanimously agreed to offer part of its Pickersleigh depot to South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust at a special meeting on Tuesday (June 3).

The move was prompted by a public outcry against trust plans to move surgeries that have outgrown premises at Court Road and Victoria Park to a new site in Townsend Way.

Tied into the council's offer was a condition that the PCT give a "specific commitment" to building a new hospital at Seaford Court.

At a meeting on Wednesday (June 4) the PCT board agreed to support the council site as the "preferred option" for re-housing the two surgeries.

The board also agreed to support a timetable for building a new hospital at Seaford Court that would see work start next year and finish in 2006, 27 years after the site was purchased.

"It's wonderful this offer has come around," said chairman David Barlow, adding that the trust had been in discussion with MHDC officers for more than two years before it was made.

"We need to improve our communications if this partnership is going to grow and get better," he said.

As the PCT has no money to build a new Malvern hospital, it will have to be funded through an alliance with the private or independent sectors.

The timetable is also dependent on the PCT gaining planning permission from the council and consent from West Midlands Strategic Health Authority.