Facts and figures for residents

New information on questions raised by Airdrie residents about the potential Monklands Hospital relocation has been published ahead of Monday’s consultation deadline.

People attending last month’s public meetings at Sir John Wilson town hall queried health board information on the relative costs of decontaminating the top- scoring site at Gartcosh and alternative Glenmavis, as well as the impact of the proposed new road at the latter area and journey times to Gartcosh.

The website now includes advisers’ reports on how the groundwork costs of £ 6.2 million for Gartcosh and £ 10m for Glenmavis were calculated, noting: “Gartcosh was formerly the site of steelworks [ and] has already been partly remediated due to development of the business park; Glenmavis was used for landfill and mining.”

It also includes details on how the rush- hour travel times were established, and a statement on the planned link road noting: “While the council is designing the road in a way to allow future expansion (dualling) if funding became available, such funding is not in place.

“As the road is being designed as a single carriageway, the journey times are an accurate representation of what would be in place at the time of opening of any new hospital.”

The new details are available in the frequentlyasked questions section of consultation website www. monklands. scot. nhs. uk, with members of the public having until Monday to give their views – ahead of health board members deciding on a preferred option.

Colin Lauder, the health board’s director of planning, property and performance, said: “We have been listening closely to all the feedback at public meetings and on social media to identify the issues that we are being asked about most often.

“In response, we’ve published additional information on three key topics; our aim is to give the public and our staff as much clear and accurate information as they need to allow them to assess the proposals for the future of University Hospital Monklands.”