The closure of Bolingbroke Hospital came a step closer this week after health secretary Alan Johnson agreed to transfer services to nearby St John's Health Centre.

Wandsworth Council had asked for services to remain at the hospital, but a damning report by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) said the hospital building was sub-standard, outdated and did not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Mr Johnson said the move was a temporary measure while a wider consultation on the future of healthcare in Battersea was in progress, but councillors said it paves the way for the total closure of the hospital - which has been at the heart of Battersea since the 1880s.

Councillor Ian Hart, chairman of Wandsworth's health overview and scrutiny committee, said: "The danger is there is no guarantee services will be coming back to the Bolingbroke and without the guarantee we have to assume services will not be coming back."

He added Mr Johnson "had totally ignored the wishes of the people of Battersea" after 14,000 people signed a petition against any closure.

Battersea MP Martin Linton said the IRP report showed Wandsworth Council was complicit in the poor treatment of patients.

He said: "The IRP said Bolingbroke does not meet current health and safety standards and is not a suitable environment for health services.

"Wandsworth Council need to explain why it has been forcing patients to continue to be treated in a building which even they recognised was in a poor state, when there was a brand new health centre only half a mile away.

"Particularly when the NHS had already committed to considering the Bolingbroke as one of the options for the services in the longer term."

Coun Hart agreed parts of the hospital needed updating but said the areas being used were adequate.

The transfer of services was agreed in July, but was delayed by the committee's objection.

Mr Linton added: "The important thing is to get the new modern hospital facilities that Battersea so desperately needs."

The upcoming consultation about future healthcare in Battersea will outline a number of options and is thought to include a proposal to refurbish the Bolingbroke, which is estimated could cost about £15million.

Other options include a new super-surgery to be built on a different site.

A spokesman at St George's Healthcare Trust, which owns the hospital building, welcomed the move and said no services would be lost as a result.

He said: "Many did not want services to move from the Bolingbroke Hospital. However, the building does not meet health and safety requirements and with 80 per cent of the site empty investment of public money to refurbish the hospital would be difficult to justify."

Bolingbroke Hospital will be empty in 9-12 months. The Day Hospital for the elderly, imaging and ultrasound, out-patient clinic and podiatry services will all move to St John's once building work is completed early next year. Until then those services will remain at the hospital. Dental services will move to Balham Health Centre from November 5. Money from any sale of the hospital building would likely go to the government.