ONE of the more important issues in the upcoming council elections is the Integrated Medical Centre proposal on the old Clancy Motors site on Howick Street.
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Bathurst Matters Team would like to make the following statement absolutely clear.
We are in favour of a new medical centre. In fact, we demand one, but we respectfully offer the following two points to enhance the project further.
Many years ago, Bathurst Council drew up plans for how Bathurst should look.
After much public consultation, the council put in place two important conditions.
No building in the CBD should be higher than 12 metres (three to four storeys) and, where possible, similar developments should be concentrated in areas, called precincts.
There is a railway precinct, an airport precinct, Mount Panorama/Wahluu motor sport and events precinct, CBD shopping precinct, university precinct and finally a health precinct centred around the current Bathurst Base Hospital and Daffodil Cottage and the recently relocated ambulance station.
In the past few years, a new ambulance station, as well as Bathurst Physiotherapy and Sports Injuries Centre, have relocated to the health precinct from the CBD.
Plans are well advanced at Bathurst Base Hospital to install a vitally needed new MRI machine, a new 30-bed ward, a larger emergency department and more treatment rooms for specialists.
What this shows is that health and allied services are continuing to be concentrated and strengthened in the one appropriate location - the existing health precinct.
Now, however, a private medical facility has been proposed for Howick Street in the heart of the Bathurst CBD.
The central business district is already congested, plagued by a lack of parking and excessive traffic.
The Integrated Medical Centre will be at least 25 metres high, which is twice the height of the ugly post office building in Howick Street and twice the strict 12-metre height limit council put in place decades ago.
If the proposed Integrated Medical Centre is not relocated to the health precinct, then the Bathurst Matters team would urge the developers and council to address the height and scale of the development proposed for Howick Street.
It will be so big and tall that it will alter the face and amenity of Bathurst forever.
In conclusion, the Bathurst Matters team is in favour of progress. We support a new medical facility, preferably constructed in the health precinct.
However, if it must be in Howick Street, then we would like some enhancements to the design to better suit the overall look and feel of the streetscape in the Bathurst CBD.