A NEW 150-space car park will be built to bust congestion at Colchester General Hospital.

The proposed car park would be between Turner Road and the existing main public car park.

It will be supplemented by a further 80 staff car parking spaces dotted around the site.

The new spaces will help to cut the number of patients and visitors trying to find a space, and will tackle a further influx when Essex County Hospital closes next March.

It has also been revealed talks have started to lease the first floor of the Primary Care Centre, next to the hospital in Turner Road, to relocate some Essex County Hospital services.

For a special report, see Thursday's Gazette