³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Plans have been submitted for a "world class" multi-million pound mental health unit in Denbighshire.

The scheme would see a 63-bed building and multi-story carpark constructed at Glan Clwyd Hospital's Ablett unit.

The new unit is estimated to cost £64m - four times the cost of the entire hospital, which opened in 1980.

The Ablett unit's Tawel Fan dementia ward was shut in 2013 amid allegations patients were mistreated.

A by independent reviewer Donna Ockenden claimed the treatment of patients there amounted to "institutional abuse".

But the health board commissioned a in 2018 into events there, which contradicted those initial claims but accepted there were failings.

The new building is part of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board's revamp of mental health services.

The health board hopes to complete the project by 2024.

Plans for the new building include two adult acute wards and an electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) suite.

A multi-storey car park for more than 700 vehicles would be built on the open car park site opposite the hospital's renal and diabetes unit.

The designers told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the building would have energy efficiency and sustainability at part of its "core principles".

The design and access statement said: "The aspiration is to deliver a world class facility, providing excellence in local, regional and national mental health services."