It was the promise of every election candidate that they would support the previous government’s promise for free parking at the controversial new Tweed Valley Hospital (TVH) at Kingscliff. Yet Northern NSW Local Health District and Health Infrastructure (HI) are yet to confirm this will be provided.
‘While we were reassured by promises made by all candidates at the recent State election, we are yet to see any concrete evidence from Health Infrastructure that parking at the TVH will indeed be free for all,’ said the President of Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association (KRPA) in a letter, seen by The Echo, to both Nationals MP for Tweed, Geoff Provest and Labor MP for Lismore (which covers Murwillumbah), Janelle Saffin.
‘In fact, the extension of free parking to all rural and regional hospitals seems to have provided a sticking point with Health Infrastructure who have indicated that this commitment will result in the loss, state-wide, of $14m in revenue.’
At tomorrow’s Tweed Shire Council (TSC) meeting Councillor James Owen (Liberal) has moved a Notice of Motion (NoM) seeking clarification on the issue of free parking at the TVH site. He is asking the other councillors to support writing to the the NSW Premier; the NSW Minister for Health; the NSW Treasurer; and the local State Members of Parliament – Member for Lismore and Member for Tweed ‘expressing Council’s support for, and requesting that parking is free at the new Tweed Valley Hospital when it opens, and in perpetuity’ for ‘patients, staff and visitors’.
‘The community has said, in no uncertain terms, that they want to see free parking at the new Tweed Valley Hospital. The previous government committed that parking would be free at the new Tweed Valley Hospital and all rural and regional public hospitals across NSW for patients, staff and visitors,’ Cr Owen told The Echo.
‘However, as yet there has been no public commitment from the new government that parking will be free at the Tweed Valley Hospital. I have been speaking to members of the community, including the Kingscliff Ratepayers and Progress Association, and people want to be assured that parking will be free. Visiting a hospital can be a traumatic and stressful experience and the last thing people need is to be slugged with big parking fees, particularly given the current the cost of living pressure that our community is experiencing.
‘In addition, if parking isn’t free then hospital visitors will look to park in the adjoining residential streets, in the Kingscliff pool car park or at Kingscliff TAFE. This will mean that Council would need to implement some form of regulated parking in those areas. That’s not fair on our community. The NSW Government should come to the table and make parking at the Tweed Valley Hospital free.’
Need confirmation from HI
Mr Provest has verbally confirmed with KRPA that NSW Health Minister, Ryan Park has reconfirmed Labor’s commitment to free parking.
A spokesperson for Lismore MP Janelle Saffin told The Echo that, as Ms Saffin has previously stated, ‘Clearly TVH isn’t in her electorate, however, many people from her constituency will access the hospital and she is committed to free parking’. However, there is still no confirmation from HI.
Mr Newton stated that if it was the loss of revenue from parking across the state that was stopping HI from coming forward to confirm free parking at the TVH site he reminded Mr Provest and Ms Saffin that, ‘We have a major health facility, effectively with numbers and impact the size of a small town, being built on top of a small town – a much different scenario than that for regional hospitals which already exist in larger regional centres.’
Mr Newton highlights the impacts on the local roads that would be faced with clogged streets and even greater parking issues than already exist if the TVH site does not provide free parking.
‘We seek your support in obtaining immediate confirmation from Health Infrastructure that all parking at the TVH will be completely free for all users (including staff) at all times.’
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