Car parking at the Dubbo hospital, it’s an issue that has residents of Dubbo fired up.
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Our local member Troy Grant and our mayor Ben Shields are at loggerheads over the issue and a few councillors have also chimed in with opinions.
If ever there was a cause to call a cease-fire over and pull in the same direction this issue would be it.
Mr Grant says that the mayor is misleading the community over the gift of land from the council to the state to facilitate a carpark.
“Ben Shields said an offer had been made to give NSW Health ‘FREE’ land for the purpose of additional car parking spaces at Dubbo Hospital,” Mr Grant said in a statement.
“The facts are; Theresa Maliphant Park is Crown Land, gazetted on 29 November 1957 as a reserve for public recreation. The crown land reserve status of the park is current and Dubbo Regional Council is the ‘Crown Land Manager’, not the owner as publicly stated by the mayor on numerous occasions.
“I fully support the call for additional car parking spaces at the Hospital, I always have. The truth is neither the mayor nor anyone else can give away land they do not own.”
However, the mayor says only ten percent of the park is crown land and has pointed this out with a picture we have included in this article.
“The line where the blue arrow is pointing, everything above the line is council owned and everything below is crown land,”the mayor said.
“So I acknowledged that not all of the park is councils but the majority of the land we are offering is and surely the state could gift its own portion to itself to just get this done.”
So here we have both sides telling the truth. Yes, the park is not entirely owned by the council, and therefore the entire park cannot be gifted to the state.
But, a healthy percentage of it is owned by the council according to the mayor and the offer to ‘gift’ it to the state still stands.
Perhaps both men could bury the hatchet, acknowledge that in this instance both of them have some truth to tell and just get on with providing what the residents need. A free multi-level carpark that will accommodate the needs of people who must use the hospital.
After all, aren’t politicians elected to serve the best interests of the community and its constituents?
Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
