New helipads for Gwynedd Hospital
Plans for two new helipads at Gwynedd Hospital (Ysbyty Gwynedd) in Bangor, Wales, have been approved by the local council’s planning committee
The plans were met with unanimous approval when the council met on 11 September. It follows an assessment of existing services by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – which oversees the hospital – which reported a ‘need to upgrade and improve the provision for landing helicopters’.
The report noted that while the county of Gwynnedd has a relatively small permanent population – approximately 117,400 people spread over an area of 2,540km2 – ‘the existing service has been very busy’.
The report credited some of the high demand to the presence of tourist hotspots such as the Eryri National Park, noting that ‘the county’s population doubles in the summer months’.
The landing area is situated 150m east of the hospital, on a high point of sloped land. Work on the site will include the removal of the existing landing pad, the levelling of the landscape, and the creation of two embankments.
Following this, work would begin to install the new helipads, surface water drainage, illuminated landing barriers, security fencing, and the creation of enclosures around the landing sites.
Oliver Cuenca
Oliver Cuenca was a Junior Editor at the Voyageur Group. He was previously a News and Features Journalist for the rail magazine IRJ until 2021, and studied MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. His favourite helicopter is the AW169 – the workhorse of the UK air ambulance sector! He also led the creation of Waypoint: The AirMed&Rescue podcast, serving as its Production Editor and co-host.