ILKLEY'S Coronation Hospital is finally to get a £350,000 revamp after more than a decade of campaigning to save its services.

Building owner NHS Property Services has confirmed it is to begin the renovation work on the ageing Springs Lane cottage hospital next month, in a move which a key campaigner believes will further secure the future of the hospital.

Although exact details of the work planned have yet to be unveiled, the scheme is expected to last about three months, and the hospital will remain open during the work.

A spokesman for NHS Property Services, said: “We are pleased to be investing £350k into the renovation of Coronation Hospital and are delighted to be working with local NHS partners to improve this facility for the benefit of the local community. The works are due to start February and are expected to last three months. All work will be carried out in isolated phases to ensure that services are not disrupted, enabling the hospital building to remain operational throughout.

Ilkley ward councillor and Bradford Council Conservative group spokesman on health, Councillor Mike Gibbons, welcomes the move.

Cllr Gibbons has been a leading campaigner to protect the hospital and its services since it came under threat of closure in 2002.

He said: "I'm pleased to hear that at least the work, which has been much talked about, going to go ahead very soon now. There's been a considerable amount of campaigning and work done on this project over the recent years.

"I very much look forward to hearing the detail of the proposed work and seeing it come to fruition. In my view, this displays an intent for the longer term future of the Coronation Hospital, and of course the people who still use it."

The revelation came as a surprise to hospital campaigners, just over two years after NHS officials spoke to Bradford Council's Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee about plans for a £300,000 revamp. There has subsequently been a reorganisation within the NHS, which it was feared had put paid to any spending on the hospital.

The oldest building on the site dates back to 1905.

The campaign to save the Coronation Hospital got into full swing in 2002, when closure of the hospital was an option under consideration.

It was transferred to the ownership of Airedale Primary Care Group - later Airedale Primary Care Group - which carried out a consultation with Ilkley people about the future of the hospital.

The Trust concluded that the hospital should be rebuilt, but this was hit by snags included a restrictive covenant on the land, and several restructures of NHS bodies and funding. A later plan to create a multi-million pound community hospital was also shelved.