Statement from Banbury Town Council on the Horton Hospital

Following the eventual disclosure by the Oxford University Hospital NHS Trust that the Horton Hospital will not be included in the New Hospital Programme, Banbury Town Council remains fully committed to support our local hospital, its users and staff.

We call on the Oxford Trust to provide its comprehensive “Vision for the Horton”. At various meetings with the Trust at Banbury Town Hall over the years, local Cllrs of both major parties have repeatedly set party politics aside and asked NHS planners for an ambitious and sustainable vision and Plan B for our much-loved hospital in the absence of the government's welcome 'new hospitals' funding. We again call on the Oxford University Hospital Trust to share that Plan B with the people of North Oxfordshire.

We ask the Trust to explore every avenue open to it, including the selling of the existing site for housing and rebuilding on a new accessible site to provide healthcare for the catchment of the Horton, which spreads over three counties. We maintain that major improvements to the Horton can and should be made, provided that the Trust invests in it and takes steps to secure reasonable 'top up' funding from the Department for Health and Social Care.

We ask why the Trust sat on the news since May and did not share it with anyone in the Banbury area, local councils or our MP. We call upon our MP Victoria Prentis to continue working positively with the Trust and all other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to provide a functioning hospital for Banbury and its catchment villages in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire.

Cllr Kieron Mallon - Conservative Group Leader at Banbury Town Council                                               Cllr Shaida Hussain - Labour Group Leader Banbury Town Council