THE first stage of the demolition of a 40-year-old maternity unit at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire is set to start later this month.

The centre, where a quarter of a million babies were born, shut last month with services switching to a new £40 million maternity hospital 200 yards away.

Hoardings have been put up around the building to allow the interior to be decommissioned, ready for the bulldozing of the double and single storey structures alongside the tower block, which was the unit's main feature.

The tower itself will start to be brought down on July 13 in an operation expected to last three weeks.

The new unit is the first part of the long-awaited £400 million super-hospital, which will transform the area's medical facilities by 2112.

The second phase will be the opening of a cancer centre, also on the City General site, next month.