No commitment from health minister to see hospital parking woes for himself

After receiving a notice of motion from councillor Warren Aubin, Bathurst council resolved to make urgent representations to NSW Health to obtain a commitment to have a proper car park built at the hospital before work commences on the $200 million upgrade.

The resolution also said council would fight to retain the Panorama Clinic in Bathurst for the duration of the upgrade.

The final point of the resolution was to contact Mr Park, as well as the Mental Health Minister, about the parking and Panorama Clinic concerns.

During discussion of the motion, Cr Aubin made clear that he wanted Mr Park to visit Bathurst to see the parking problem for himself.

"Extra wards, extra beds, extra staff, extra people coming to visit; where are they going to park? Please someone enlighten me, because I'm sure no-one can," he said.

"That is why we need to be going to the minister, directly to the minister, and ask him what is happening here.

"Tell him to come and have a look for himself. Tell him to go up there and have a drive through the car park and actually park his car, because he will not be able to."

The Western Advocate sent questions to Mr Park's office about the council's resolution, including asking if he was prepared to visit Bathurst.

The response received was attributed to a NSW government spokesperson, not Mr Park, and did not answer the question about visiting Bathurst to see the existing parking problem.

Instead, the statement noted Mr Park was aware of the concerns and encouraging community members to participate in the consultation phase of the hospital redevelopment.

"The NSW Regional Health Minister is aware of the ongoing community consultation for the $200 million Bathurst Hospital redevelopment and encourages residents and the community to share their feedback with the project team as part of the planning process," the spokesperson said.

"The plans on display demonstrate that the redevelopment will deliver improved car parking for patients, staff and visitors and increase public parking.

"The exact number of spaces to be delivered as part of the redevelopment and location of staff, visitor and patient drop-off and longer stay parking spaces will be determined as the design develops.

"It's important the community engages in the consultation regarding the redevelopment as the statutory planning processes continue this year."

On March 20, 2024, the same day council was to consider Cr Aubin's notice of motion, mayor Jess Jennings was in Sydney advocating for the hospital.

While he was only able to speak to Mr Park briefly, he had a lengthy discussion with the senior adviser for regional health.

"In essence, they're very conscious of the fact we're concerned about these issues and I would like to see from here a meeting with Ryan Park directly to address those items," Cr Jennings said.

"... Essentially, we've been able to make our case in terms of the things that are playing out in our community and the concerns we have."

Cr Jennings made it back from Sydney just in time to participate in the vote on Cr Aubin's notice of motion.

It passed with the support of all councillors except deputy mayor Ben Fry and Cr Marg Hogan.

As of April 9, no meeting with Mr Park had been scheduled.

The NSW government is encouraging people to provide feedback on the hospital redevelopment plans before they are finalised.

The community can contact the project team directly to provide feedback via the project website, emailing HI-Bathurst@health.nsw.gov.au or phoning 9978 5432.