INJURED military personnel could be housed in the grounds of Heatherwood Hospital thanks to ongoing talks as part of the site's proposed £72m demolition and rebuild. 

Emerging proposals from the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust - who manage the London Road site - would see the facility knocked down and replaced with a new hospital in woodland onsite. 

The current hospital would be kept open and operating while the new hospital is being built, with the land then sold off to an external developer for residential housing. 

But Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead councillors Cllr Lynda Yong, deputy mayor Cllr Sayonara Luxton and mayor Cllr Dee Quick are in discussions with the health organisation and Haig Housing Trust - a charity which provides accommodation to ex-servicemen - to make the suggestion of housing for former soldiers, marines and airmen a reality.

Cllr Quick, who has spearheaded the plans, said: "It is an aspiration. When anyone puts in an application for a large number of houses they have to offer a certain number of homes for social housing.

"I have asked at a meeting recently with Frimley Health Trust that if when they negotiate with a potential developer, they would put the idea to them very strongly.

"The council would like the planned residential housing on site to be for ex-military personnel, particularly those with injuries. The hospital is going to be rebuilt as an orthopaedic centre for excellence so it would be ideal for them to be close by.

"There are at least 23 ex-service people who would like to live in this area. There is a demand and I think as a borough with barracks here and all the ceremonial duties carried out on our patch, it would be as if we could give something back to them."

If plans for the hospital, which will be submitted to Bracknell Forest Council towards the end of the year, are given the go-ahead, construction on the new facility would begin in 2017, spanning two years.

Plans are also in motion to offer centralised GP's services from the site.
 A spokeswoman for the Haig Housing Trust said: "We are delighted that there appears to such support from the mayor and various councillors in the Windsor and Maidenhead area to look into the possibilities of providing housing for ex-service veterans in the area. It is an area where, currently, Haig Housing Trust does not have housing and it is an area which would be highly appropriate for us to do so. We have quantifiable demand for housing in the area.

"The drive to provide housing in the area is from the councillors and Haig Housing Trust, as the leading provider of housing both in terms of general needs and specialist housing for the ex-service community in the UK is the obvious choice to be part of this plan. We have over 1,400 properties spread throughout the UK."