New aerial photographs have shown the progress of a new £15m ward at one of the region's hospitals - and the impact on its car park.

The James Paget University Hospital this week began construction of a new decant ward for the hospital to allow failsafe work to be carried out on its main building.

The £15m project will create a space where the hospital can relocate patients - one ward at a time - to allow timber props to be installed to protect the structural integrity of the Gorleston site.

And a bird's eye view of the site, captured by aerial photographer Mike Page, has shown how much of the site's existing car park the new project is taking up.

Hospital officials say that while construction work is carried out 180 of the hospital's 1,600 spaces will be out of use.

However, some of these spaces are being occupied by the constructors' compound and will be restored once the work has been completed.

A JPH spokesman said: "We are creating new spaces within our existing car parking areas and exploring temporary options for local off-site parking."

Officials also confirmed that none of the spaces lost to the project were publicly available - with it instead being staff spaces lost.

According to the original planning documents submitted with the planning application though, once the project is complete the hospital will be left with more spaces than it began with.

The decant ward is planned to come to the hospital at a cost of land providing 63 spaces.

However, the hospital will be reconfiguring its site to allow for additional parking in other parts of the forecourt - which will see 69 spaces gained.

This will leave the hospital with six spaces more than it had before the project began.

Meanwhile, the hospital is continuing to draw up plans for a major rebuild project, which is hoped to begin within the next 10 years.

The hospital is one of 40 that was selected for a government-funded rebuild - the same programme the Queen Elizabeth in King's Lynn is hoping to be included in.

It will see the hospital completely replaced, with the decant ward set to then make up part of the new site.