COLCHESTER General Hospital has unveiled plans for 150 more parking spaces.

The hospital needs more space if a £38million expansion goes ahead.

Colchester Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust will renew plans for 90 extra spaces in the main hospital car park.

Colchester Council rejected the scheme last year because it would have meant removing hedges providing a screen for residents opposite the Turner Road site.

The hospital will also apply for a 60-space car park on land it owns in Mill Road. Residents in Turner Road, Wryneck Close, Kingswood Road and Hollymead Close have complained for years about problems they say are caused by staff, patients and visitors parking in their streets and blocking driveways.

They hope the new plans will ease the problems.

John Atkins, 74, of Kingswood Road, said: “I would be in favour of it.

“In my view, it would make sense to use the space in front of the current car park.

“I still think the problem is not just the availability of parking, but the fact people would prefer not to pay.”

The hospital says more parking spaces will be needed for staff and patients when it builds a £24million radiotherapy centre and transfers cancer services from Essex County Hospital to Colchester General Hospital.

A new application is expected to be submitted to Colchester Council in three months.

Nick Chatten, the trust’s estates director, said: “There is some more space to develop at the front of the hospital, closer to Turner Road than the current patient car park, and land off-site in Mill Road, which we could develop with a crossing over the Northern Approach Road.”

Bosses have held talks with Essex County Council to link the new parking area with Colchester’s park and ride to stop in the Northern Approach Road, which is due to open next September.

The hospital has set up a staff team to look at creating a footpath linking the bus stop to the hospital.