Hospital solar panel plans approved

More than 600 solar panels can be installed on rooftops at a mental health hospital in West Yorkshire after planners approved the scheme.

The project will see 614 panels fitted to five buildings at Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield as part of a government-backed drive to cut NHS energy costs.

The panels will be installed on the Horizon Centre, Learning and Wellbeing, Newhaven, Unity Centre and Ryeburn buildings at the site, which provides mental health, drug and alcohol, and learning disability services.

Wakefield and Rothwell MP Simon Lightwood said the investment was "a big step towards a more sustainable and cost-effective NHS".

Fieldhead Hospital was among a number of local NHS sites awarded funding through a £180m national solar energy investment programme announced last year.

Nearby Pinderfields Hospital and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service headquarters, in Carr Gate, were also selected to benefit from the scheme, which is backed by the government's state-owned energy company, Great British Energy.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the initiative aims to cut energy bills at the sites, allowing savings to be reinvested in frontline patient services.

A Wakefield Council report said the development did not require prior approval, allowing the scheme to proceed.

When the funding was announced, Lightwood said: "I'm proud that Pinderfields, Fieldhead and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in my constituency are benefiting from this government funding."

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