A QUICK decision on aborted plans for a new £300m super-hospital in the North-East will be a Labour priority, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said.

Last October, the North Tees and Hartlepool Trust suspended the Wynyard Hospital scheme, because of a lack of “high-level political support”.

Wynyard was given the go-ahead by Mr Burnham in 2010, but axed by the Coalition within weeks of it coming to power because of its £464m upfront cost.

The Trust had sought Government support for a slimmed-down, cheaper version of the new hospital using the private finance initiative (PFI) and Government loans.

Mr Burnham said he would listen to any “change of thinking” about the project, which hit opposition because it would close the existing hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool.

But he added: “What isn’t any good to anybody is this prolonged uncertainty and drift. This is an area with some of the highest health needs in the country.

“I would take a fresh look at it, based on where the local debate is up to, with a view to a decision.

“What people are sick of is the idea that it just rumbles on and on and it never gets resolved.

“We need a decision. That’s what I tried to do before the last election - and I thought we had come up with a decent plan.”

The suspension of the scheme triggered the departure of Ken Lupton, a former Tory leader of Stockton Borough Council, from the Trust’s board, forced out by other board members.

Mr Lupton then turned on Stockton South MP James Wharton, accusing his Tory ally of a “lack of leadership” over the project.