Ledbury will get a new hospital on the Cattle Market site by late autumn 2001, after a deal was agreed to buy the land.

Developers Shaw Homes (HA) Ltd and the directors of Ledbury Markets and Fairs Company have issued a joint statement revealing Shaw has secured "over 75% of the shares".

Shaw's offer has now been made unconditional and the Markets and Fairs board has agreed that the sale should go through. The two parties say the path is clear for building work to begin in the late summer of this year.

Herefordshire Council granted planning permission for the new hospital, GP surgery and care home on February 23.

Michael Blandford, chairman of Ledbury Markets and Fairs Company, said Shaw had now secured "well over 75 per cent of the shares, with the total altering daily".

He said: "This is a pleasing endorsement of the our assessment that, in view of the very regrettable but equally certain demise of the market as a business, the site should sold to Shaw. This is very good news for Ledbury."

Jeremy Nixey, Shaw's chief executive, said: "We're delighted with this vote of confidence from shareholders. We'll not disappoint them or the people of Ledbury. By the end of next year we'll have developed a hospital, GP surgery and care home that everyone will be proud to be associated with and involved in."

Town Mayor Spencer Lane said that the decision would not please everyone but that if the Cattle Market had been a vibrant business it would not have been considered as a potential site.

Former town councillor Ken Davies, who opposed the idea of a hospital on the Cattle Market site, said: "It's a disgrace. Why did 95% of the shopkeepers come out against it? It'll kill the town. We've never had to the opportunity to view alternative sites or alternative solutions. This is a backroom way of getting a nursing home on the most valuable land in town."

Charles Masefield, solicitor for the Ledbury Markets and Fairs Company, said: "Shaw's offer can still be accepted by those who have not done so. If they refuse, they can't be made to sell and there's a possibility that they could continue in the company as minority shareholders and end up being locked in.

"Those who have not yet accepted should ask themselves if they wish to remain as small shareholders in a company controlled by Shaw. They should not assume that they will get more profit by hanging in."