DESPITE attracting more than 500 letters of objection, plans for a four-storey extension at Poole Hospital have been approved without going before councillors.

Permission for the scheme, submitted as part of work to make the hospital a centre for arranged operations, was given by BCP Council planning officers under delegated powers.

But campaigners have criticised the move, saying that the views of the public have been ignored.

Submitted in June, the application sought permission for a new extension to the hospital allowing it to almost double its operations capacity ahead of the planned £147 million reorganisation of NHS services in Dorset.

Under current plans spearheaded by Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, Poole Hospital would become a planned treatment centre with Royal Bournemouth Hospital focusing on acute care.

However, the changes have attracted widespread criticism with concerns raised about the impact the loss of A&E and maternity services in Poole could have and the increased levels of congestion it could cause.

Earlier this year the health secretary Matt Hancock passed the entire scheme on to the Independent Review Panel for consideration in June after a referral was made by Dorset County Council – and backed by Poole council – last year.

The hospital has said the extension proposed in its application would be built regardless of whether the wider project is approved.

The scheme provides for the construction of new operating theatres on a corner of its site off Longfleet Road.

Of the 626 public comments made in response to the application, 528 were objections but the council said “the vast majority” did not raise planning points and had been discounted.

Following this, planning officers agreed to grant planning permission for the extension under delegated powers.

“There has been much public interest regarding this planning application and hundreds of letters of representation have been received,” a report by planning officer Kate Robson said.

“It is understood that there is much local and wider concern regarding the relocation of certain services from Poole Hospital to Bournemouth Hospital as part of the reconfiguration of healthcare services in east Dorset.

“Under consideration here is a planning application for extensions to Poole Hospital to provide additional and enlarged operating theatres.

“Therefore, the only matters for consideration for the local planning authority are the planning implications of such an extension.”

The report said the proposals would provide “social and economic benefits without any identified environmental harm”.

But Debby Monkhouse of Defend Dorset NHS said she was “very concerned” that the application had not been referred to the council’s planning committee for a decision to be made in public.

“The plans are for the reconfiguration,” she said. “There is not a £147 million bid to upgrade the buildings and another £147 million bid for the reconfiguration.

“When will [the planning department] consider the implications of agreeing to the building changes that change the hospital roles with severe impact on congestion and carbon emissions?”

Ms Monkhouse said she expected the planning application to extend Royal Bournemouth Hospital to be considered by members of the planning committee later this year.