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Petition launched as new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital placed under review




The government has been urged to press ahead with the life-saving Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital after placing the project under review.

A petition has been launched, MP Pippa Heylings is voicing her concerns and motions have and will be put to councils in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire calling on the Labour government to protect the hospital’s funding.

Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner at Westminster. Picture: Keith Heppell
Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner at Westminster. Picture: Keith Heppell

Daniel Zeichner, the city’s Labour MP and a government minister, could offer no guarantees but told the Cambridge Independent that he has “every confidence” the hospital will proceed, adding that it is vital that public finances are put on a “secure and sustainable footing”.

The government announced in July that all projects within the New Hospitals Programme promised by the previous Conservative government would be placed under a spending review.

In a letter to MPs, health secretary Wes Streeting said the government wanted to see the programme completed but was “not prepared to offer people false hope about how soon they will benefit from the facilities they deserve”.

He insisted to MPs the programme needed to be reset to “put it on a sustainable footing”.

Mr Zeichner told the Cambridge Independent that he will continue to advocate “strongly” for the hospital, which is planned for Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

How Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital will look. Picture: CUH
How Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital will look. Picture: CUH

He said: “It is vital that we put our public finances on a secure and sustainable footing which is why the new Labour government is reviewing the Conservatives’ fanciful hospital building programme. They covered up the billions of pounds over previous estimates which would have to be spent to deliver 40 hospitals by 2030.

“Our review will prioritise schemes most in need of replacement and offering the greatest value for money. We will continue to have capital investments across the NHS estate, including major hospital upgrades.

The Cambridge Cancer Hospital Outline Business Case was approved in summer 2023 and work on the business plan and project is continuing. Advocates and supporters have put across the case extremely well, highlighting how it will make such good use of the extraordinary local expertise and research capacity for the good of the whole NHS.”

On 20 September, the government published the terms of reference for the review, which sets out its approach.

Cllr Sally Ann Hart (Lib Dem, Melbourn), who will put a motion to South Cambridgeshire District Council on Thursday, said: “We have suffered under years of Conservative cuts to healthcare funding and for the new government to jeopardise the hospital this way is shameful.

“We know the Conservatives mismanaged the economy but that cannot be used as a smokescreen for Labour austerity.

“The new hospital was on track to be delivered by 2030 and has received all the needed planning permissions and even begun early work on site – for it to be put at risk now is just plain wrong.”

Chris Carter Chapman, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire
Chris Carter Chapman, the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire

The petition has been launched by former South Cambridgeshire Parliamentary candidate, Chris Carter-Chapman.

He said: “This is so disappointing, lots of us have been involved in the campaign to build it and we’re hugely supportive of it going into the Addenbrooke’s site – who wouldn’t be?

“It’s going to change the way in which research is conducted, it’s going to improve clinical care and ultimately more people are going to survive cancer when that hospital is built.”

Mr Carter-Chapman said his own family had spent a lot of time in Addenbrooke’s after his nephew was diagnosed with a very rare form of kidney cancer aged one.

“I’m doing this for him and I’m doing it for all of the people who would benefit from this hospital,” he said.

“There’s a change.org petition that I’ve set up today, saying to the government that it’s not acceptable to take money that was announced in the New Hospital Building Programme last year, specifically to build this hospital, and to go and spend it somewhere else in the country.

“That’s wrong for the community and it’s wrong for all of those people who are sadly going to face a cancer diagnosis in the future.

“If you agree with me and you want to send a message that you don’t think it’s right to cancel it, you can sign my petition. Let’s send a message to the government that the cancer hospital needs to be built. Thank you very much.”

Cllr Heather Williams (Con, The Mordens), opposition group leader at South Cambridgeshire District Council, has signed the petition and expressed her disgust at Labour’s decision.

She said: “The cancer hospital has been long fought for and the news that it is under threat is deeply upsetting for many across the county and beyond.

“I welcome the petition that Chris has set up and encourage all, regardless of how they may have chosen to vote in the last election, to help save the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital. Different choices can be made – and should be made.

“Receiving a cancer diagnosis for yourself or a loved one is one of the most challenging, draining, and scary experiences of a person’s life. How could it ever make sense or be just for any government to remove funding for a cancer hospital in what could convincingly be argued as the biotech capital of the world.

“I just hope that people get behind Chris’s petition to save the cancer hospital and that the government does the right thing: listen to us.”

CI May 20023 Camb City Councillors, Councillor Karen Young, Queen Edith's, Liberal Democrat, Lib Dem (Spokes) Finance, Resources & Transformation. Picture: Keith Heppell
CI May 20023 Camb City Councillors, Councillor Karen Young, Queen Edith's, Liberal Democrat, Lib Dem (Spokes) Finance, Resources & Transformation. Picture: Keith Heppell

South Cambridgeshire Lib Dem MP Pippa Heylings, whose constituency includes the cancer hospital site, has been campaigning to protect the hospital and has already secured a number of meetings with government officials to express her concerns about the potential cut to funding.

The Liberal Democrats on South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council have both submitted council motions in a coordinated action following the announcement.

The motions will be debated on Thursday, 3 October and Thursday, 10 October in South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge respectively. If passed, they direct the councils to lobby the government to protect the hospital’s funding.

Cambridge Cllr Karen Young (Lib Dem, Queen Edith’s) said: “Cambridge Labour needs to stand up for our residents and work with this Labour government who are putting at risk much needed projects just like the Cancer Hospital. As Liberal Democrats we will do everything we can to push the Government to do the right thing.

“We need the government to be ambitious on healthcare if we’re going to have any hope of plugging the deficit in health facilities, let alone dealing with the scale of development that Cambridge expects.”

A statement published on the hospital’s website said: “As the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital project does not yet have full business case approval, we will be included in the national review, which aims to put the NHP on a deliverable timetable.

“We are continuing to make significant progress on the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital project and we look forward to pre-construction works beginning on site in the coming months. We expect to submit the full business case next year and are on track to build the hospital by 2029.

“The government says the review will conclude as soon as possible.”

Visit change.org here to sign the petition.



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