A Fenland councillor called for Royal Family support to get the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at King’s Lynn re-built.

Cllr Sarah Bligh put forward her suggestion to Thursday’s Fenland District Council meeting.

Councillors were debating a motion from Cllr Sam Clark urging support for the campaign.

“Thinking out loud, I wonder whether the Royal Family has been questioned about this,” said Cllr Bligh.

She said the Royal Family would “obviously” be aware of the campaign and the hospital would have played a vital role during the accident involving Prince Philip.

They have residents too in Sandringham, she said, and “I wonder whether they can add weight to this in any way shape or form?”

Cllr Clark, who proposed the motion, said “that might be more difficult, but we could probably have a look at that”.

The council voted unanimously to support her motion urging the new Secretary of State for Social Care, Sajid Javid, to pay an early visit to the hospital.

“The Government has advised that eight hospitals in England are going to be built or fully rebuilt,” she said.

“The decision as to where those eight hospitals are will be announced in November.

“Given conditions at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, local MPs Steve Barclay and James Wild have called on the Government to ensure that QEH is selected as one of those eight new hospitals.”

She said support was reflected by a massive petition in the Eastern Daily Press.

Her motion called upon Fenland Council to not only write to the minister suggesting an early visit, but also to write to EDP backing the petition.

Cllr Clarke said Mr Javid should see for himself “the unacceptable dilapidated state of the structure of the hospital”.

By doing so, she felt, it might then announce in November “that the QEH has been selected as one of the eight new hospitals in England to be built or completely rebuilt”.

Cllr Will Sutton said he fully supported the motion, which would also see letters sent to local MPs and to both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire County Council.

He said: “Having spent eight weeks of my life in the hospital1992 and a further several weeks over the years, I fully support the motion; why wouldn’t we.”