A SHOWPIECE new hospital for Gwent's sickest patients should be built north of the existing Llanfrechfa Grange site, to make access easier from the A4042 dual carriageway, says a Torfaen council plan.

And with housing developments proposed for much of the existing hospital site, a new link road is planned, to take traffic away from the existing Caerleon Road and homes in Llanfrechfa village.

The blueprint for the Grange and surrounding land forms a document called the Llanfrechfa Grange Development Framework which, with an environmental report on the impact of the proposed new Specialist and Critical Care Centre (SCCC) and the housing, is out for public consultation.

Health bosses and Torfaen council chiefs plan to transform the current Llanfrecha Grange Hospital site and surrounding land.

The Grange is Gwent Healthcare Trust's preferred site for the SCCC. Newport council and Newport Unlimited, however, want the new critical care centre in the city which is the most densely-populated area of Gwent, and because workers would have to travel to work outside the city if it is situated near Cwmbran.

Though Assembly health minister Edwina Hart has yet to decide whether an outline business case based on this assumption is the best way to modernise specialist hospital care in Gwent, planners have worked up a scheme designed to balance the need for new healthcare facilities and homes, with preservation of the rural landscape and existing communities.

The framework document - available on Torfaen council's website at www.torfaen.gov.uk - maintains that "the hospital and housing will bring economic regeneration benefits to the local and wider area."

Building the SCCC north of the existing Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital would, states the document, make linking with the A4042 easier and minimise the visual impact of the rural setting.

The new hospital would represent a major change from the existing Torfaen Local Plan, but the document stresses the council's view that "the regional significance and fundamental need" for a new SCCC in this central location is "an overriding consideration and a potential reason to justify a departure from the existing development plan."

• The document is also available to view in County Hall, Cwmbran, the Civic Centre, Pontypool, Cwmbran Library, and Torfaen South Mobile Library.

Comments should be sent to Robert Murray, principal planning officer, County Hall, Cwmbran, NP44 2WN, by Wednesday November 12.