THE Kidderminster Hospital site will be protected to meet future health care needs.

The conclusion of a public inquiry has been seized on by health campaigners as a victory.

Wyre Forest District Council had stipulated in the Local Plan - the blueprint for development within the district - that the site should be kept solely for the provision of health care facilities.

But during a review of the plan Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust challenged that.

At a public inquiry last October, the trust told an independent planning inspector that it wanted more flexibility to enable it to pursue the development of up to 1.5 hectares of surplus land for other uses, such as housing or retail.

A car park, a nursing school, offices and other ancillary buildings currently occupy the land in question.

But the inspector's report, made public yesterday, recommended that there should be no change to the council's policy of safeguarding the entire site for future healthcare provision.

Councillor Fran Oborski, chairman of the environment and development scrutiny committee, which steered through the Local Plan review, said the inspector's report was a complete vindication of the stand taken by the council.

"We said the trust had got it wrong and the inspector agrees with us," she said.

"It is extremely short-sighted when the proposals to restructure healthcare provision in Kidderminster are so controversial and not yet fully proven."

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor welcomed the inspector's decision.

"I am very relieved that the inspector agreed with Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern that, with current hospital services creaking throughout the county, combined with the prospect of further improvement locally, it is essential to safeguard the whole site for health," he said.

A spokeswoman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said it had not yet received the inspector's report.

"The trust is awaiting a copy of the decision," she said.