The centre will serve people with a range of brain disabilities

The neuro-disability centre project is at Newcastle's Walkergate Hospital.

The move spells the end of a long-running wrangle over the future of the hospital site, which was once earmarked for a supermarket.

Residents, backed by Newcastle City Council, objected and the idea was eventually thrown out following a public inquiry.

Now a planning application for a neuro centre from the Northgate & Prudhoe NHS Trust is set to be approved by city councillors.

The centre will include residential accommodation for patients with brain injuries and disabilities.

There will also be out-patient facilities, offices and education and training accommodation.

Plans criticised

Health officials say the new unit will be funded under the government's controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

It will bring together services currently based at Hunters Moor Hospital and the Sanderson Centre, both Newcastle, and Prudhoe Hospital in Northumberland, along with neuro-psychiatry.

Newcastle City Council's head of planning and transportation John Miller said the unit would be a "regional medical facility on a site which has historically been used for hospital purposes".

It is hoped work will start on the project in 2004 and the new centre could open towards the end of 2006.

Union leaders have already criticised a �200m PFI plan to overhaul Newcastle's hospital facilities.

They say the massive plans mean "mortgaging the future" and they fear funds will go into shareholder profits rather than the NHS.

The move is expected to create up to 2,000 temporary construction jobs over the next four years and will affect 1,000 staff currently based at Newcastle General Hospital.