Residents will find out in the autumn whether a campaign to replace an ageing hospital with a new 'health campus' has been successful.

Yesterday (June 6) Harlow MP Robert Halfron led a debate in the House of Commons in which he called for the Princess Alexandra Hospital in his town to be replaced.

Although he received no confirmation from minister for health Stephen Barclay, it was announced that a round of capital funding projects would be announced in the autumn.

While the department rejected a request for £500-£600m for the new campus in 2017, a new, "more realistic" bid has not been ruled out, the minister said.

Mr Halfron said: "While regeneration of the current site has been considered, it is widely accepted that building a new hospital health campus on a different greenfield site would be most affordable and provide the greatest benefit to the patients served by the PAH.

"The hospital’s current location in the town centre may partly explain the very high A&E use, and it makes further expansion of the hospital incredibly difficult.

"A new greenfield site on the outskirts of the town would mitigate these problems and allow the town-centre land to be redeveloped into much-needed housing for Harlow’s growing population."