26th
April 2002
This
Expression of Interest is in response to the Hobart City Council's call for
submissions concerning the proposed development of aged care facilities at
three sites on Council-owned land within the Municipality of Hobart.
At
its meeting on the 12th of March 2002, in adopting the
recommendation that Expressions of Interest be called, the Hobart City Council
resolved that:
"Prior to the calling of Expression
of Interest, notification be given to community groups who may have an interest
in the proposed Aged Care sites."
Regrettably,
contrary to the Council's resolution, affected community groups appear not to
have been notified. Public information
seems to have been limited to the Public Notices advertisement in which the
Expressions of Interest were formally invited, and a Mercury newspaper
article. No additional information has
been provided to the South Hobart Progress Association, and no advice has been
received as to how affected community groups can participate by representation
of their own and other local interests, or evaluation of the impacts of any of the
proposed developments.
The
procedures outlined in the Council's Information
and Guidelines document do not provide for input from any parties other
than potential developers. Accordingly,
the Progress Association is submitting this Expression of Interest as an act of
engagement in the only known process whereby community views may be considered.
As
is appropriate to the South Hobart Progress Association's scope of interest,
this submission considers only the Wellesley Park site.
The
South Hobart Progress Association acknowledges the
increasing need for appropriate aged care facilities within the greater Hobart
area. The Association welcomes the
number and quality of such facilities in and around the South Hobart area,
including Vaucluse Gardens, St John's Hospital, and St Ann's Rest Home.
However,
the Progress Association believes that conversion of Wellesley Park to
become a private aged care facility would not be the best use of that
particular site, and is incompatible
with community expectations for its future.
Accordingly,
and contrary to the intended purpose of the Council's call for Expressions of
Interest, this submission does not propose to develop Wellesley Park as
an aged care facility.
The South Hobart Progress Association formally
proposes that the Wellesley Park site should remain as public open
space, primarily devoted to recreation, and allowing the full range of uses for
which it is currently enjoyed.
The rationale on which this proposal is based is presented below.
1.
Loss of
Amenity
Any
redevelopment of Wellesley Park as a privately managed aged care
facility would restrict or prevent the many forms of public amenity for which
the area is currently enjoyed by South Hobart residents. This would be contrary to the objective of
the planning scheme's Residential 2 Zone, which is "to sustain and enhance the character and amenity" of the area.
·
Public
open space
Whilst
Hobart is contained by a unique perimeter comprising the Derwent River and Mt
Wellington and its major foothills, there is a limited resource of public open
space located within its residential precincts. Wellesley Park is therefore highly
valued for its proximity to, and integration with, other elements of the suburb
of South Hobart.
·
Children's
playground
The
principal usage of the main terrace of the site is for family recreation. The terrace contains a cluster of
well-maintained children's play equipment that is used by local residents and
visitors. The reasonably flat grassy
areas surrounding the play equipment are used by children for the ball games,
kite flying, and bike riding. The
relative value of this level open recreational space is particularly high
because surrounding residences are mostly situated on steep blocks.
·
Dog-walking
The
Wellesley Park site is a significant focus for local dog-walkers. Under recently proclaimed regulations, it is
one of the few areas that is zoned to allow dogs to be exercised without being
restrained by a leash. It is well used
for this purpose.
·
Public
footpaths and rights-of-way
The
site forms the confluence of five popular public footpaths:
-
A major gravelled footpath links the cul-de-sacs
of Wentworth Street and Ingram Street; this is lit by overhead lighting, and is
used day and night.
-
A gravelled footpath links the Wentworth Street
cul-de-sac with Cascade Road via the Badminton Centre car park.
-
In the opposite direction, a newly gravelled
path links the Wentworth Street cul-de-sac with Wellesley Street, (and thence
to Huon Road).
-
A gravelled vehicular track links the northwest
corner of the Wellesley Street soccer/cricket oval with the Ingram Street
cul-de-sac.
-
A grassed terrace and foot track links the
Wentworth Street cul-de-sac with the bottom of Hillborough Road.
Development of a privately managed facility across
the proposed site will block most, if not all, of these well-used routes. Even those that were left would become
significantly less useful because of the elimination of the throughways to
which they were connected. Loss of
these footpaths would force pedestrians and cyclists onto alternative
street-based routes that are less direct, less enjoyable, and less safe because
of their higher traffic volumes and speeds.
·
Visual
quality
Viewed
from many angles from both sides of the valley, the Wellesley Park site
contributes significantly to the scenic diversity and attractiveness of the
suburb. Its existing character is leafy
and grassy, complementing the residential surroundings. In contrast, aged care facilities are
typically of medium to high density, and would increase the proportion of the
South Hobart landscape impacted by buildings and tarmac.
An
important planning objective of Precinct 26C is to maintain landscape values,
with specific restrictions on building heights and a requirement to preserve
vistas. The consequent limitation of
building heights to 4.8 metres "measured
vertically from natural ground level" would be hard to achieve
on the majority of the Wellesley Park site, given its origin as a
landfill.
·
Environmental
habitat
As
noted by the Council, the site is significantly disturbed and is unlikely to
provide habitat for threatened species.
However, trees and shrubs, most of which are native, cover a substantial
proportion of the area. As a result, a
wide variety of native bird species use Wellesley Park for feeding,
sanctuary, and breeding. Their presence
is appreciated by users of the park, and also by local residents whose
properties are frequently visited by the birds. The site is also being used for entomology research.
2.
Breach of
Trust
Conversion
of the Wellesley Park site into an aged care facility would be a
regrettable breach of the South Hobart community's expectation, nurtured over
three decades, that the reserve was created and would continue to be managed as
public parkland.
·
Historical
commitment
The
existing Wellesley Park is the outcome of a cooperative agreement
between the Hobart City Council and the Progress Association in the 1960s. When the Council was facing opposition from
Lenah Valley residents over a proposed tip-site in that suburb, the South
Hobart Progress Association approached Council and offered the worked-out
sandpits in the Wellesley/Wentworth/Ingram Sts area as an alternative. In return for South Hobart residents
accepting the unpleasant proximity of the tip during its life, the degraded
site would afterwards be redeveloped into parkland and recreation grounds. The Council subsequently honoured their
commitment, resulting in the present soccer/cricket ground, playground,
footpaths, and landscaped parkland.
The
loss of this public resource and its redevelopment as a private facility would
be a regrettable betrayal of the good will of the South Hobart community.
·
Assurance
to residents
Over
recent decades, prospective buyers of properties that adjoin Wellesley Park
have sought specific assurance from Council officers about the long-term
management intentions for the area.
They have been consistently advised that the park is to be managed in
perpetuity as a public reserve. This
assurance has been a significant determinant in residents' decision to purchase
their current properties.
·
Continuing
investment by Council
Since
the original development of Wellesley Park, the Council has continued to
maintain and upgrade the reserve and its facilities. New playground equipment has been installed; footpaths have been
re-formed, drained, and surfaced.
Street lighting has been extended along the main footpath. This continuing investment has been greatly
appreciated by the community, and has reinforced their expectation that the
Council was committed to the long-term management of the area as public
parkland.
·
Community
commitment
Spurred
on by the Council's official works programs, the South Hobart community has
actively involved itself in the development and maintenance of Wellesley
Park. A plaque at the end of
Wentworth St commemorates extensive tree planting by local school
children. Neighbouring residents have
undertaken considerable work in tree pruning, weed clearing, and rubbish clean
up. Others are involved with the
recently established Bushcare group, aiming to rid the area of exotic
weeds. Implicit in this community
effort has been the expectation that Wellesley Park will continue to be
a valued feature of the locality.
3.
Lack of
Strategic Context
Although
the Council is obviously sincere both in its concern about the growing shortage
of aged care facilities and in its determination to address the problem, it is
hard to avoid the conclusion that the current call for Expressions of Interest
is largely a reaction to the public controversy associated with the Olinda
Grove development proposal in 2001.
However,
given the importance of decisions about aged care and public land, the
community is entitled to expect that individual proposals be guided by
well-considered long-term strategies that have strong public support.
·
No aged
care strategy
The
Progress Association is not aware of the existence of any strategic evaluation
or master plan for the Council's long-term role in supporting the aged care
industry. Given the specific
responsibilities of the Commonwealth and State Governments in aged care and
housing policy and funding, and the traditional roles of charitable
organisations and the private sector, unilateral action by local government
with no clear limit, or regional scope, or long-term strategy is hard to
understand.
Such
a strategy would seem particularly necessary if the Council is to justify the
depletion of the community's finite resource of public parkland.
·
No
strategy for use of public open space
It would be reasonable to presume that most residents expect that Hobart's limited areas of accessible public open space will continue to be devoted to that purpose. In this context, any proposed disposal of public parkland for private development requires justification against clear and strategic criteria.
For
lack of such a strategy, and noting Council's preparedness to sell or lease Wellesley
Park, the community is entitled to ask which other suburban parks are
regarded as surplus or potentially saleable.
4.
Unsuitability
of the Site
The
Wellesley Park site is extremely unsuitable for development as an aged
care facility for several reasons.
These are mostly acknowledged in the council's own Information and Guidelines document, but their significance has
been downplayed.
·
Unstable,
potentially contaminated landfill
The
Wellesley Park site is essentially an old refuse disposal area. This use only ceased in the late 1960s, (not
"over 40 years ago" as the Information and Guidelines document
claims).
The
majority of the site is a major landfill, clinging to a moderately steep
hillside, whose gradient the Council acknowledges as 16 degrees, which is
"well above the threshold slope
angle (10 degrees) for this type of geology". However, the North, East, and South sides
of the site are bounded by the much steeper batter slopes of the landfill
itself. The surfaces of these batter
slopes are loose and unconsolidated, and there is evidence that the terraces
that they support are slowly but steadily subsiding.
There
is a high possibility that the landfill is contaminated to some extent. Standards applying to the design and
management of refuse disposal sites in the 1960s were considerably less
stringent than those which apply today, and the use of this site for the
accelerated disposal of materials damaged or destroyed by the 1967 bushfire
increases the probability that the site contains substances which are
incompatible with its use as an aged care facility. It is also doubtful whether the underlying refuse is consistently
or adequately covered with soil; dumped items can be readily seen protruding
from drains and the park surface.
·
Steep
slopes, preventing access by elderly persons
As
discussed above, the site has steep slopes.
The total vertical height between the top and bottom of the site is over
40 metres. Whilst there are two main
flat sections of the site, even these are vertically separated by 20 metres.
The
closest bus route, along Cascade Road, is 30 metres lower than the site's main
terrace. Access on foot via Ingram St
and Hillborough Road, or Congress Street, or via the path through the current
Badminton Centre car park, would involve gradients which most elderly people
would find difficult if not impossible.
The only foot route that is more gradual, down Wentworth Street and
Washington Street, would extend the distance to the Cascade Road bus to 0.9
kilometres.
·
Narrow
access roads
Although
the bottom of the site can be accessed via Hillborough Road, the main central
terrace area would most logically be accessed from either Ingram Street or
Wentworth Street. Both of these roads
are extremely narrow, restricting residents' parking to one side of the street
only, and the curves in Wentworth Street impede drivers' lines of sight. Neither street is wide enough to allow
free-flowing two-way traffic; one driver usually has to pull over to the side
of the road to avoid any oncoming car.
Increased traffic volumes in the streets will therefore cause major
congestion and significantly increase the risk of accidents.
Because
of their steep side-slopes and retaining walls, there is little scope for
cheaply widening either Ingram Street or Wentworth Street.
The
South Hobart Progress Association wishes to express the appreciation of the
local community for the Hobart City Council's creation of Wellesley Park,
and for its ongoing enhancement and maintenance of the site and its facilities
over the last thirty years.
Recognising the increasing need for aged care facilities in Hobart, the Association hopes that the Council is successful in identifying appropriate sites and strategies for their development.
However,
the Association firmly believes that Wellesley Park is unsuitable for
such a purpose and will provide optimum community benefit if it continues to be
used as public parkland.
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