At last Thursday’s Byron Shire Council (BSC) meeting long-time member of the Mullumbimby Hospital Action Group (MHAG), Caroline Bass, addressed councillors over the Council’s failure to engage with and inform the community over the future of the Mullumbimby Hospital site.
‘Our [MHAG’s] work with BSC has always been respectful and collaborative from both sides,’ she said.
‘Given all this, imagine our shock and distress to discover a few days ago that a proposal had been put forward to discuss selling the site in its entirety, no discussion, no context, no information.’
Ms Bass spoke about the overwhelming community action to save the hospital site, that was donated to the community in 1901, for the community.
‘When MHAG asked for greater support, the community stepped up in droves. Over 200 people risked arrest to try to save their hospital over 30 years ago.
‘The overwhelming response from community is for housing on the site, housing for seniors who want to stay in their hometown after selling the family home. Housing for families, for single people, for young people and for essential workers, housing for people who cannot compete in our market-driven economy.’
Mayor Sarah Ndiaye told the meeting that she had been in discussion with both the state and federal government over possible ways they could take on the site to develop a mixed housing development.
‘Provision of housing sits with the state. We’ve prepared the site,’ said Cr Ndiaye.
Councillor Aren Pugh said he thought accepting the site from the state government had been a ‘mistake’ and asked for a timeframe for negotiations with the government over how to develop the site.
Cr Michael Lyon disagreed with Cr Pugh saying that even if they finally sell the site it is worth more than the $6m it cost to remediate it.
Ultimately, the councillors voted unanimously to ‘in principle the englobo sale of the site to the NSW government for the delivery of public, social, affordable and Aboriginal housing’.
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