Tolworth Hospital is to get a £60m makeover, including a major redevelopment of the site with new wards being built.

South West London Mental Health and St George’s Trust (SWLSTG) has applied to Kingston Council to demolish 9,530sq m of its existing buildings and put up 12,330sq m worth of new developments.

It also hopes to increase its car parking spaces from 231 to 300 and create 80 parking spaces for cyclists.

Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis said: “For us, it’s quite a lot of investment going into a pretty sensitive part of Tolworth.”

The trust also wants to widen the main entrance from Red Lion Road and turn it into a two-way entrance.

Its planning statement said: “The existing Tolworth Hospital buildings, that have been operational since the Victorian era, are mainly old, unsuitable and expensive to run.

“None of the wards are fully compliant with modern standards.”

Plans include six new inpatient wards, administration and outpatient buildings as well as the retention of Woodroffe House, and the Acacia and Jasmines units, which will all be redeveloped.

Grahame Snelling, from Kingston Healthwatch, said: “There will be some disruption no doubt and some arrangements will have to be amended, but I would expect there to be consideration for the people already there and prospective patients.

“We will be watching out that money is well spent in accordance with what patients and their carers are looking for.”

The building works, if given the go-ahead by councillors, will not begin until autumn 2017 at the earliest.

The plans come off the back of proposals to close mental health services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton and centralise south-west London’s mental health services at both Springfield University Hospital, in Tooting, and Tolworth Hospital.

Health bosses have estimated they will save £25.87m over 50 years by doing this.

Matthew Neal, SWLSTG estates modernisation programme director, said: “A majority of the buildings on the current site are in need of updating and do not reach today’s standards of dignity and privacy for our service users.

“The proposals are the trust’s vision to become a modern centre of excellence.”

He added no decisions would be made until after a consultation period ends on September 26.

For more information visit swlsth-tr.nhs.uk.