Swap land to make it a real health precinct around the hospital | Letter

With the benefit of hindsight, all the people that I speak to now seem to agree that the Bathurst community made an error when the decision was made to build our "new" hospital alongside the old one.

Nevertheless, it's there now. But after less than 20 years, we can see that it is nearing capacity and, at times like pandemics, barely able to cope with community needs, except for the outstanding work of the staff.

So the "integrated" medical centre proposed for the Bathurst CBD needs to be considered by the council and the community, if not by the developers, as part of the planning for the future, and how and where it might fit, because Bathurst will surely need another public hospital within 20 years.

And where should that hospital go? Bathurst Regional Council has an ideal solution within the existing health precinct.

Council owns and controls Victoria Park, the netball courts, the tennis courts and the Works Depot. This is some of the most valuable and underutilised land in Bathurst.

It would be very easy and relatively cost-effective to shift the netball courts to a new site with more parking and easy access.

Likewise, the Council Works Depot is in a totally inappropriate place today, and probably quite unfit for purpose, given the machinery now used by council.

There may even be a case to shift the tennis courts at some future time, new clubhouse notwithstanding.

Suppose a plan was made to do a land swap, and council used the old Clancy Motors site to extend the existing car park, while the developers build the new medical centre on the northern section of Victoria Park, dug into the hill from Durham Street.

Given the extra space and the rise in the ground it might not rise above the level of Howick Street.

Suppose the next public hospital was then to be sited where the netball courts are now.

Then we could have an integrated health precinct which might be able to provide for the next 100 years, with ambulance service close by, specialists' rooms and physiotherapy services in nearby buildings and a helipad for use by the whole group.

Of course, the carrot for council with the proposed medical centre in the CBD is the offer to build a huge car park, in conjunction with the RSL and council, to meet the growing need for parking in the centre of the city.

But a recent letter in the paper exposed the numbers, so that we could see that the community would not benefit greatly in new parking, and if council used the money it alone proposes to use to add just one storey to the existing car park, then the community might be just as well served.

The fact that the developers might have bought a certain parcel of land is a commercial risk that they have chosen to take and must have no bearing on any decision of council, but a land swap might be a better outcome for all.

There is no question that Bathurst needs the integrated medical centre, although it seems most of the services will only be of use to private patients.

Specialists need those opportunities to increase their incomes before it becomes attractive to base themselves in any particular place, where they can work in both public and private hospitals.

The really important questions relate to where the centre should go, and how it should be placed and designed to fit the future needs of our community, as well as the wishes of the developers.