Stockton health hub to be built on former shopping site

The Tees Valley Diagnostic Centre is planned for the site of Stockton's former Castlegate Shopping Centre

Plans to build a health centre on the site of a soon-to-be demolished shopping centre have been submitted.

Stockton Borough Council has received the application to build the Tees Valley Diagnostic Centre on the site of the former Castlegate Shopping Centre.

The plan is for it to be jointly run by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust and South Tees Hospitals Trust.

The trusts say it would be used to help diagnose and detect cancer quickly if it goes ahead with opening next year.

Proposals show the centre would be built on the site of the former shopping centre on the town's high street, which is being torn down.

Bosses say experts at the centre would be able to carry out MRI, CT and ultrasound scans as well as cardiology, X-rays and blood tests.

Demolition of the Castlegate Shopping Centre, car park and Swallow Hotel began on 1 September

South Tees trust's deputy chief medical officer David Reaich said the layout and design of the centre had been agreed and a building contractor had been appointed.

He said it would be "state of the art" and operate with "net-zero carbon emissions".

Mr Reaich said: "This will not only be a centre to help diagnose and catch issues like cancer more quickly - but it will do so while offering sustainability and longevity to our community".

David Gallagher, of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said sites already in operation across the rest of England had "delivered an additional 80,000 diagnostic tests, providing a more convenient way for patients to get the tests they need".

The building will form part of Stockton Council's regeneration plans for the waterfront, which the council said would held attract more people into the town centre.

Garry Cummings, the council's director of finance, development and regeneration, added the new centre was "certain to be a significant footfall driver" for the town centre.