Northpark Private Hospital’s plan to build a new emergency department has been thwarted.
Whittlesea councillors ignored a senior planner’s recommendation and knocked back the hospital’s proposal to demolish the existing medical centre and reconfigure the carpark to make way for a new emergency department and 10 extra car spaces at its Bundoora site.
At last week’s council meeting, Cr Sam Alessi moved an alternative motion to refuse the Healthscope-owned private hospital’s expansion plan. He based his rejection of the plan on current parking woes in nearby streets and the area’s residential nature.
“There’s the carparking, there’s the number of buildings on that site; it’s been overdeveloped and it’s having an effect on the local residents,” Cr Alessi said.
Councillors were not the only ones to object to the development. Five objections, including a petition with 72 signatures, were lodged, most citing traffic congestion, the unwanted growth of the hospital and non-compliance with existing planning permit conditions as their grounds for objecting.
A 2010 Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision allowed the hospital to expand and construct a multi-storey medical centre on Plenty Road. But the VCAT ruling prohibited the hospital from having more than 35 medical practitioners on site at any one time, and stipulated 277 car spaces.
Northpark general manager Gaylyn Cairns told Star Weekly there were 302 parking spaces on site, and no more than 20 doctors were rostered on at any one time. Healthscope chief executive Robert Cooke said he was disappointed the council had not supported attempts to take the pressure off public hospital emergency departments.
“It’s extremely disappointing that the council, in one of Australia’s fastest-growing growth corridors, is not supporting essential medical services that are currently not available to residents.”
Cr Norm Alessi said councillors had been bombarded by Bundoora residents worried about the hospital’s expansion plans.
“They’ve outgrown the site,” he said. “They’ve extended it and it just keeps growing – the area can’t accommodate it,” he said.
Eddy Abraham, a Tasman Drive resident of 40 years, said the hospital was an asset to the area, but he wanted traffic in and out to be better managed and more parking provided.
The head petitioner, who did not want to be named, said nearby residents couldn’t get their cars out of their driveways of a morning. “They’re the ones having to put up with the bad sightlines as they reverse.” He said hospital visitors often parked across residents’ driveways. Cr Norm Kelly said the matter would most likely end up at VCAT.
