Hospital hopes for £40,000-a-year derelict school site

CAMPAIGNERS have launched a bid to open a community hospital at a derelict school site in the heart of Wrexham.

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE

The former Groves School has lain abandoned for two decades and keeping it secure is costing Wrexham Council around £40,000-a-year.

It has twice been threatened with demolition with alternative proposals ranging from a campus college to a contemporary art gallery.

But since being Grade II listed in 2016, redeveloping the prestige site has become more problematic.

The old girls grammar school has been boarded up since homeless people were ejected from the abandoned building in 2017.

Heritage groups have voiced dismay over its deteriorating condition, accusing the local authority of "allowing it to happen on purpose".

The latest bid to find a new use for the edge-of-city-centre site has came from local Plaid Cymru councillors.

Marc Jones and Carrie Harper put forward a proposal calling for the school's regeneration as a community hospital as part of a campaign to improve health care in the county.

They noted that, despite being the largest community in North Wales, Wrexham lacks a community hospital to deal with intermediate care.

The pair claimed the new facility would ease pressure on Ysbyty Wrexham Maelor Hospital and provide step-down care for people currently blocking acute beds.