Surrey Heath MP Raises Fresh Alarm Over Frimley Park Hospital Relocation
Surrey Heath MP Al Pinkerton has written a further open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, escalating long-standing concerns over the proposed relocation of Frimley Park Hospital and the integrity of the site-selection process behind it.
Infrastructure“not costed, not budgeted“
– Al Pinkerton, Surrey Heath MP
The letter, dated 8 January 2026, follows a recent meeting between Mr Pinkerton, senior officials from the Department of Health and Social Care, representatives from the New Hospital Programme, and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. According to the MP, the discussions have only intensified his concerns — particularly around infrastructure, cost transparency, and the apparent prioritisation of land at Frimley Fuel Allotments.
At the centre of the letter is a stark admission from NHS England officials: that no costings have yet been undertaken, and no budget allocated, for the substantial transport and infrastructure upgrades required to support a new hospital on the proposed site.
Mr Pinkerton warns that this omission represents a serious risk, not only to the delivery of the hospital itself but to the wider community for decades to come.
In his correspondence, the MP sets out the scale of infrastructure works likely to be required if the hospital were relocated to Frimley Fuel Allotments. These include upgrades to motorway junctions, widening of surrounding roads, modifications to single-lane railway bridges, expanded public transport provision, and new parking controls across residential streets.
Despite the inevitability of such works, Mr Pinkerton states he was explicitly informed that there are currently “no costings on infrastructure as it stands today”, and that no dedicated budget has been allocated for these project-critical requirements. He further raises concern that such costs could ultimately fall to the New Hospital Programme’s contingency fund, or be displaced onto local authorities and residents.
For an area already experiencing chronic congestion — including persistent issues at Junction 3 of the M3 at Lightwater — the MP argues that proceeding without a full and transparent infrastructure assessment would be irresponsible.
Questions over site selection and transparency
Beyond infrastructure, the letter raises broader concerns about the integrity of the site-selection process itself. Mr Pinkerton highlights evidence suggesting early site predetermination, with constituents reporting that prominent local figures were indicating as early as May 2023 that Frimley Fuel Allotments would be selected — before any formal site search had begun.
He also notes that Ministry of Defence-owned land adjacent to the existing Frimley Park Hospital was never fully scored as an alternative site, raising further questions about whether all viable options were assessed evenly and against the full set of agreed criteria.
In his view, the emergence of Frimley Fuel Allotments as the preferred site — despite failing key criteria such as brownfield status, accessibility, and environmental impact — undermines confidence in the fairness and impartiality of the decision-making process.
Environmental and governance concerns
The MP’s letter also addresses the environmental and civic significance of Frimley Fuel Allotments, describing it as the last publicly accessible remnant of the historic Frimley Commons, held in trust for public benefit for more than two centuries.
He argues that the permanent loss of this land would represent not just environmental damage, but the extinguishing of a long-standing social and civic asset — a value that, he says, has not been adequately accounted for in the current assessment.
In addition, Mr Pinkerton raises concerns about the governance role of Frimley Fuel Allotments CIO as both landowner and prospective vendor, matters he has already referred to the Charity Commission.
Call for urgent action
Before the programme proceeds further, the MP is calling for a series of urgent actions, including:
- A comprehensive assessment of the total capital costs required to deliver a hospital on the Frimley Fuel Allotments site, including all associated infrastructure
- A transparent breakdown of how the hospital would connect to power, water, drainage, and transport networks — and at what cost
- A full impact assessment of the additional strain the development would place on already overstretched local infrastructure
- Clear confirmation that all necessary infrastructure investment would be fully funded and not displaced onto local communities
- A commitment to revisit previously discounted sites, re-testing them against infrastructure deliverability as a core criterion
While Mr Pinkerton reiterates his support for Frimley Park Hospital’s inclusion in Wave 1 of the New Hospital Programme, he is clear that this must not come “at the unacceptable cost of undermining local trust, eroding valued green space, or imposing significant and unfunded infrastructure pressures on an already constrained community”.
As scrutiny of the hospital relocation plan intensifies, the letter places renewed pressure on ministers and NHS leaders to demonstrate that decisions are being driven by evidence, transparency, and long-term public interest — rather than convenience or expediency.
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