VILLAGE leaders want their voices to be heard in vital talks on the future of a hospital and nursing home.

Bourton Parish Council says it should be part of the consultation on Moore Cottage Hospital and the adjacent Salmonsbury House care home.

The call came after Bourton county councillor David Thorpe said the county council and Gloucestershire NHS were still liaising over the sites' destiny. The community hospital was downgraded in 2007's health cuts to an intermediate care unit, and frontline services transferred to Moreton-in-Marsh.

Salmonsbury House is in line to be redundant when the Orders of St John completes its new 75-bed care facility in Bourton in summer 2011.

Mr Thorpe said discussions were "under way" between the county council and NHS. He said: "No decisions have been made but proposals include the redevelopment of Moore Cottage Hospital as a clinic, with extra care provision on the site.

"If that is agreed, there would be surplus land and the NHS would be able to look at the provision of other facilities on the site, for example ambulances."

The parish council had lobbied Mr Thorpe about the feasibility of using the Salmonsbury House site for a community hall, which could consolidate the existing library and youth club.

But Mr Thorpe said: "Although, in principle, this appears to be an attractive proposal, in practice with the proposed budget cuts for all authorities, it could not be a worse time to consider such a proposal. Any such proposal would inevitably need to be self-financing to some degree."

He revealed talks were set to go on over the next three months, but asked the parish council to give him its priorities for the site to pass on.

But parish council chairman Bryan Sumner said: "It's an important site and we're very interested to know what's going on.

"I propose we write to request we have a voice on these discussions – it's a long shot as we may not."

After the meeting, he added: "Moore Cottage Hospital is being used in a limited capacity and we're not sure what detailed plans they have for that site, particularly now they're building the new hospital in Moreton.

"The hospital and Salmonsbury are on a large tranche of land fairly central to Bourton.

"The possibility is Salmonsbury will be sold to developers – a valuable village asset which would be swallowed up under a housing project."

NHS spokesperson Alison Mayhew said talks were at an early stage, but public consultation would take place when it came to planning applications.

Mark Walkingshaw, NHS Gloucestershire locality commissioning director for the Cotswolds, said: "As part of maintaining services to meet the needs of north Cotswolds' patients we've been working jointly with the county council. A new modern intermediate care unit will be provided in Bourton with community beds. This will support specialist therapy services, known as intermediate care. We will continue to keep local people informed."