A CRUNCH meeting to discuss problems with the design of the new Wharfedale Hospital is due to take place tomorrow in Otley.

Work on the new £14 million hospital - which will be built next to the current hospital in Newall Carr Road - is due to start next month, but has yet to get planning permission.

It is hoped that remaining concerns from councillors about the choice of materials for walls and roof will be cleared up tomorrow at a meeting between planning officers, councillors from Otley, Wharfedale and Aireborough and the builders.

Earlier this month city councillors sitting on the Leeds Development Control Panel (West) agreed to delegate planning approval to its planning officers and Otley councillors in an effort to get work moving on the hospital.

Councillor Graham Kirkland (Lib Dem, Otley and Wharfedale) said the first priority should be getting work started.

Councillors have expressed serious concerns about the choice of building materials, including the roof, of the new hospital which they say will look out of place next to the listed former workhouse, which is made out of Yorkshire Stone.

Coun Kirkland said: "I don't like the choice of material proposed, but I don't want to stop the hospital from being built either.

"I'm sure the builders could make the building look more presentable for almost no more cost.

"But the first priority is that the hospital is built."

Meanwhile, Coun Clive Fox (Con, Otley and Wharfedale) believed work would start on the new hospital in May, unless tomorrow's talks on site went disastrously wrong.

"I am looking forward to the meeting when I hope the contractors have taken on board the comments which local councillors who sit on the development control panel have made about the materials proposed.

"The new hospital will be there for the rest of the century and beyond.

"It will be the first public building of any size to be erected in Otley for many years and the design and appearance has to be right."

Coun Fox said it was important that there was no delay at all.

"I hope that tomorrow's meeting will be constructive enabling agreement to be reached on the design and materials to be used on this landmark project."

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said the choice of materials was the last thing to be sorted out before planning permission could be given.

Meanwhile, trust bosses have sought to reassure kitchen workers at Wharfedale Hospital that new catering provision at the new hospital is in the best interests of patients and staff.

In order to bring the new hospital in line with the trust's other hospitals, including Leeds General Infirmary and St James's, patient food will be brought in from outside and no longer prepared in the hospital's own kitchens.

Although staff and visitor food will still be cooked at Otley, the majority of meals will be brought in and heated up on the wards.

A spokesman for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Wharfedale Hospital will be brought in line with the remainder of the trust catering strategy in that patient meals will be brought in from outside and heated up at ward level to ensure they are piping hot and presented in an appetising way.

"This service already operates at the main hospitals in the trust and is flexible and eff-icient, providing good quality food which has been highly praised in patient satisfaction surveys."

The spokesman added kitchens at the new hospital would continue to serve staff and visitors.

"All the relevant staff at Wharfedale have been kept fully informed about the situation and we are confident that when the time comes, they can be successfully re-deployed."

l What do you think of the latest planning problems to face the new Wharfedale Hospital? Write to Chief Reporter Lesley Tate at 9 Orchard Gate, Otley LS21 3NX.