WORK could start next February on a plan to almost double the amount of car parking spaces available at one of Gwent's biggest hospitals.

If in the next few weeks Monmouthshire county councillors approve a planning application submitted by Gwent Healthcare Trust, around 500 extra spaces will be created to serve Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital, on land next to its existing main car park, off the A40 Brecon road.

The development would benefit patients and staff, and trust bosses predict that if all goes smoothly, it could be completed by July next year.

Finding a car parking space at Nevill Hall has become increasingly difficult in recent years, and despite a small extension to the main car park, people often have to wait for a space to become free.

At busy times it has occasionally been necessary to implement controlled parking on selected double yellow line sites.

The trust has also applied for planning permission to enable it to install lighting, CCTV and pay and display machines.

There are also proposals to amend existing parking arrangements for the disabled.

Work is due to start soon on another major hospital car parking plan - to provide 300 new spaces for staff near the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, on part of the former Whiteheads steelworks site at the city centre end of Mendalgief Road.

This new car park will, allied to changes to other existing arrangements at the Royal Gwent, increase by 50 per cent the number of parking spaces for patients.

It will also more than double the amount of spaces for disabled drivers.