A former office building in Northwich is set to be converted into a private hospital treating up to 200 patients a day.

Cheshire West and Chester Council planning officers have rubber-stamped a change of use application by Circle Health Group for The Courtyard in Hall Lane, Wincham, so it can turn the empty building into a new medical facility treating private patients.

The plans include two minor surgery areas with supporting rooms, three treatment rooms, nine consultant rooms, a gym, a diagnostic area for ultrasound, and an x-ray.

According to planning documents, the private facility expects a maximum of 200 patients per day and will employ around 40 staff. It would be open seven days a week between 7am and 8pm.

There would be no overnight accommodation, only day procedures and consultations arranged by appointment. There would also be 93 car parking spaces – six of which would be disabled bays – and eight cycle spaces.

The site currently contains a two-storey office building and a large car park, with the Wincham Hall Hotel and wedding venue sharing the same site access road. The office had been used by Willis Towers Watson Health and Benefits health insurance agency.

The area sits within protected green belt - a buffer designed to protect the countryside from urban sprawl. But the planning officer’s report said the building itself was already in place in the green belt, and changes to the surrounding area would 'not constitute inappropriate development'.

Wincham Parish Council had raised concerns about impact of increased traffic on local roads, but planners said the impact would not be of ‘significantly additional scale’.

As well as the initial application for change of use from office to healthcare facility, a second application has also been made for physical alterations to the site, including a porch and access driveway.

London-based Circle Health Group was founded in 2004 and has more than 50 private hospitals around the UK.