This is what Leeds' two new hospitals could look like as £450m plan is revealed today

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will next week present a pre-application plan to Leeds City Council for a new “world-class” children’s hospital site opposite Millennium Square.

A second, adult facility, with a theatre suite focusing on day cases, joined onto Leeds General Infirmary’s (LGI) Jubilee Wing, in the city centre, has also been proposed.

The new Leeds Children’s Hospital site, to be built next to the LGI’s Brotherton Wing, will bring together staff from the city’s current children’s hospital - now split between the Clarendon and Martin wings - for the first time with purpose-built facilities for young people.

Julian Hartley, chief executive at the trust, which runs Leeds’ St James’ and LGI hospitals, said: “This is a real once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to transform hospital care in Leeds.

“We believe that this is one of the largest hospital investments in the region and will deliver world-class adult and children’s health services for people in Leeds, Yorkshire and across the North.”

The pre-application will be discussed by councillors next week after being unveiled today.

A full planning application will then be formally submitted to the council in December.

It is being drawn up as part of the local authority’s new Innovation District vision for the city centre that aims to boost links between the hospital, universities and the council, to put Leeds at the “forefront of research, learning and health innovation” in the UK.

NHS chiefs behind the ambitious proposals today hailed the developments as a “major boost” for the city’s healthcare economy and patients, one year after early stages of the plan were first unveiled.

Linda Pollard, chairwoman of the trust, said: “This ambitious, long-term programme will cement Leeds Teaching Hospitals’ reputation as a leading health service provider and innovator, not just in Leeds but across the UK. This is a not only a significant investment in the future of health services for patients in Leeds, West Yorkshire and beyond but a major boost to the health economy in Leeds.”

The city centre’s new hospital buildings will form part of a planned Innovation District in Leeds.

A vision first set out by Leeds City Council following a report in 2016, it was proposed to cover the main city centre campuses of the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University.

It would also incorporate Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and the council’s own buildings in the civic quarter.

Plans for the area include hubs for research, offices, retail units, residential developments, green spaces and new pedestrian walkways.

City leaders hope it will bring together the institutions in a bid to attract new research facilities, create new opportunities and put Leeds at the “forefront of research, learning and health innovation” in the UK.

Coun Judith Blake, council leader, said the new proposals, presented as a pre-application, would play a “key role” in the wider plans for the city centre’s Innovation District.

She said: “With the aim of developing new ideas and pioneering technology being at the heart of the proposals, this plan has a key role to play in our Innovation District which has already generated more than £140m of investment.

“Leeds is already at the forefront of health innovation, research and learning, and this proposal will strengthen that position further. We look forward to following these plans with keen interest.”