Plans to completely rebuild Chase Farm Hospital in a £275million project have been approved.

Enfield Borough Council's planning committee last night voted unanimously to pass the multi-million pound development, which will also see 500 new homes and a new primary school built on the site on The Ridgeway, Enfield.

The hospital is owned by Royal Free Hospital and the rebuild is expected to cost in the region of £120 million. A further £125 million from the Government and £30 million from Enfield’s Clinical Commissioning Group will be provided over the next five years.

The Royal Free London NHS Trust last year ruled out building a new accident and emergency unit on the site after it was closed in December 2013.

Enfield North Conservative MP, Nick de Bois spoke in favour of the application at the planning committee and told the Enfield Independent the approval is a “big step” towards giving better healthcare and hit out at Enfield North candidate Joan Ryan for “fraudulent claims” about the hospital’s future.

He said: "Tonight's approval does two things - it marks a big step towards delivering world class healthcare for Enfield residents, and it exposes as fraudulent the claims of Joan Ryan that Chase Farm will close."

Mrs Ryan, the former MP for Enfield North and Labour candidate for the 2015 election, condemned the approval and stated on social media that it is “the death blow of Chase Farm”.

She said: “I have very little trust in the future of this hospital. It is closure by stealth and is the death blow to the pledge of Nick de Bois and David Cameron that the A&E at the site will not close.

“The site is nowhere near big enough to be called a hospital and we are risking the loss of this being turned into a healthcare centre and not a hospital.

“I am not against redevelopment but the modular build means that they can easily take bits away from the site if they choose.”

David Sloman, chief executive of the NHS trust, insisted this would not mean the end of Chase Farm Hospital and said it had secured the hospital’s future.

He said: “This is great news not only for the hospital and its staff, but also for the local community.

“Redeveloping Chase Farm means that patients will receive care in a greatly improved environment, and the local area will also get much-needed homes and a new primary school.

“Chase Farm is simply not sustainable in its current form, so this decision means a secure future for the hospital and the services it provides.”