Dubbo City Council will pressure the state government to leave Playmates Cottage where it is or come up with cash to assist in funding a replacement building.
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The campaign for the non-profit childcare centre which leases a site on the grounds of Dubbo Hospital entered a new phase at the council meeting on Monday night.
The council resolved in a vote split 5-3 to seek a contribution equivalent to the replacement value of the existing building, should it be identified for either demolition or retention and use by NSW Health.
The hospital is undergoing a $91.3 million redevelopment and in a master plan for the future the area leased by Playmates until the end of 2015 would be for use by primary and community health services.
Last week Dubbo MP Troy Grant said health authorities had offered assistance to Playmates with planning for a new centre, in developing a business strategy and investigating potential grant or funding opportunities.
At Monday’s meeting deputy mayor Ben Shields warned that “to close Playmates Cottage - which is on the table right now - is not acceptable”.
He moved to reaffirm council’s position, set in December, that Playmates Cottage remain at its present location on the hospital campus, but the motion went further.
It said should the childcare centre’s existing building be identified for either demolition or retention and use by NSW Health, “council seek on behalf of the community, a contribution equivalent to the replacement value” of it to assist the centre’s management committee in “funding a replacement childcare facility at a location yet to be determined”.
Cr Shields said council facilitated the building of Playmates Cottage, and the building belonged to the community, not NSW Health.
The motion was carried with the votes of councillors Shields, Smith, Mathew Dickerson, Greg Matthews and Rod Towney against those of councillors Reynolds, Walkom and Bill Kelly.
