THE project to rebuild a world-class hospital in Stanmore has escape government cuts and will go ahead as planned, it has been announced.

The £81m rebuilding of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital has been approved by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander following a widespread spending review.

The Government had put on hold billions of pounds worth of projects approved by Labour in the first half of this year to determine whether they represented value for money.

Today, Mr Alexander told MPs which schemes had been cut or suspended because they were not affordable or did not fit in with the new Government's priorities.

The news will comes as a relief to the hospital, in Wood Lane, which celebrated the announcement of funding for the rebuilding project when it was made by former health minister Andy Burnham in March.

Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East, speaking to the Harrow Times after Mr Alexander's House of Commons speech, said: “As you can imagine, I'm entirely delighted.

“I'm very pleased that this project is getting the go-ahead – this is the one project we were fearful about and this is excellent news for Harrow.

“It is now up to the hospital board to progress the planning application and be ready to make a start by 2012.”

The rebuilding of the orthopaedic hospital, an internationally renowned centre of excellence, was a key pledge in Mr Blackman's election manifesto, and he met with the chief executive of the trust in the run-up to the election along with new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

Defeated Labour candidate Tony McNulty also made a pledge to rebuild the hospital as the two tussled for the Harrow East seat, and vied to be the one bringing the long-awaited funds to the trust.

The rebuilding project will involve the demolishing many of the existing buildings, some of which have been in place since the 1940s, and replacing them with a brand new hospital.

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