Campaigners fighting to save Royston Hospital from being sold to private developers have moved one step further towards their goal.

The Royston Hospital Action Group (RHAG) and Friends of Royston Hospital have succeeded in temporarily protecting the London Road site now it has been listed as an “asset of community value”.

North Hertfordshire District Council recognised the site’s status after the two campaign groups requested the land and buildings be placed on its list of assets to safeguard the facility for the Royston community.

The groups now have six months to make a bid to purchase the land, during which time the NHS cannot sell the site.

A spokesman for RHAG said: “ We will decide within the next six weeks whether it is necessary to initiate a community bid to take back possession of the site that the community originally provided for hospital care in 1923 to prevent it falling into private hands.”

If owners of listed sites wish to sell they must inform the council so community groups have the opportunity to place their own bid.

RHAG and the Friends of Royston Hospital now have five weeks to decide if they want to be a potential bidder – after the initial six-week moratorium period began on Thursday, April 4 .

The landowner must consider their bid but is under no obligation to accept.

A spokesman for RHAG added: “Echoing the intentions of the hospital’s visionary benefactors of the late 19th and early 20th century, and the community that valued and supported it then, our vision is to ensure its ongoing role as a public asset devoted to providing sustainable health care in the best way possible for the community in and around Royston.

“Thanks to the Friends of Royston Hospital, members of RHAG and the support of thousands of residents from Royston and the surrounding villages, North Herts District Council has included Royston Hospital Site in its register of Assets of Community Value.”

Royston Hospital’s inpatient service provided intermediate rehabilitation care as well as some outpatient services.

The Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust wants to replace it with a care home and move the outpatients’ services to the health centre.

But campaigners want to keep all hospital services on the current site.

For further information visit: www.saveroystonhospital.co.uk.