Scottish Hospital

Status

On 2/5/12 the Planning Assessment Commission approved the Project Application for a Seniors Living development on the Scottish Hospital site. This followed a public meeting held on 23/4/12 at the Paddington RSL Club. The Commission issued a Determination Report (67.95 kb) and a Project Approval (114.82 kb) in relation to its decision.

Project Application

The Planning Assessment Commission advised us on 3/4/12 that:

  • this project has been referred to it for determination
  • the Commission for this project is Dr John Roseth (Chair) and Mr Lindsay Kelly
  • the project application and associated documents, including the Department of Planning and Infrastructure's assessment report and recommendation are publicly available on the Department's website listed as 'D129/12 - Redevelopment of Scottish Hospital' in the PAC Register
  • due to the public interest the Commission will be meeting to hear submitter''s views on the recommendation prior to determining the project
  • the Commission meeting will be open to the public and is scheduled from 3pm on Monday, 23 April 2012 at the Paddington RSL Club, 220-232 Oxford Street, Paddington
  • registrations to speak at the public meeting close at 4.00pm, Thursday, 19/4/12

To register to speak at the Commission meeting contact Miss Stephanie Calderaro on (02) 9383 2112 or email pac@pac.nsw.gov.au

Preferred project report

The Department of Planning advised us by letter dated 12/10/11 that the Presbyterian Church (NSW) Property Trust has submitted:

  • a response to submissions
  • a preferred project report (PPR)
Also, that they will now finalise their assessment of the project and the Planning Assessment Commission will determine whether to approve or refuse it.

The response to submissions and the PPR are available on the Department of Planning's website.

The PPR includes a number of changes from the original project including:

  • removal of the top floor on the Brown Street ILU building, resulting in an eight storey proposal to a maximum height of RL42.590 (to the lift overrun) and RL41.74 (to top of the roof) which represents a 2.46m height reduction compared to the original project
  • redesign of the eastern facade of the Stephen Street RACF building and reconfiguration of the northern end of this building
  • lowering of the air conditioning condenser units near the Stephen Street boundary further into the ground and enclosing them with a louvered screen
  • three options for the landscape treatment along Stephen Street
  • a design option for service access from within the site accessed from Brown Street rather than Stephen Street

Enquiries and submissions on the response to submissions and the preferred project report should be directed to:

Department of Planning
Robert Byrne
tel: 9228 6538
email: robert.byrne@planning.nsw.gov.au

NOTE: The Department of Planning has not set any time period for making submissions. Anyone wishing to make a submission is advised to do so as soon as possible.

We have made a submission (PDF) to the Department objecting to the PPR essentially on the same grounds as our objection to the original project application (PDF).

Background

NSW Planning advised us on 9 March 2010 that a proposal by the Presbyterian Church for redevelopment of the Scottish Hospital site was a major project under part 3A of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Applications under part 3A are made to the NSW Department of Planning and the Minister for Planning decides whether to approve or refuse the application.

[NOTE: NSW Planning & Infrastructure wrote to us on 8/6/11 about the NSW Government's election commitment to repeal Part 3A. Their advice was that changes were made to legislation removing the category of development that covered the Scottish Hospital proposal from Part 3A. However, the changes allowed more advanced proposals to continue to be assessed and determined by the State Government and that the Scottish Hospital was one of those more advanced proposals. The Scottish Hospital proposal will therefore continue to be assessed and determined by the State Government.]

The application for Ministerial approval is referred to as a Project Application.

Related to the Project Application are a Statement of Planning Principles and a Planning Agreement (VPA). The Council decided to prepare of a Statement of Planning Principles to inform future planning for the site. The VPA relates to a request by Presbyterian Aged Care (PAC) to dedicate land for public purposes. It is essentially a voluntary agreement between Council and PAC which would be tied into any Ministerial approval. More information about the Statement of Planning Principles and the VPA can be found below.

Original project application

The Department of Planning advised us by letter dated 17/11/10 that the Presbyterian Church (NSW) Property Trust had submitted an Environmental Assessment (EA) for this project. It was exhibited from 17/11/10 until 17/12/10. The Department of Planning invited people to make submissions on the project by Friday 17/12/10.

Council at its meeting of 13 December 2010 resolved to oppose the approval of the application for the redevelopment of the Scottish Hospital for the reasons outlined in the minutes of that meeting. See extract of the minutes of the meeting (PDF)

Council on 16 December 2010 forwarded a submission to the Department of Planning objecting to the application. See letter to Department of Planning (PDF)

Statement of Planning Principles

On 12 April 2010 we decided to prepare a Statement of Planning Principles for the Scottish Hospital Site in consultation with the community.

On 24 May 2010 our Urban Planning Committee considered a report (PDF) on the preparation of the Statement of Planning Principles and decided that we would:

  1. write to property owners in the vicinity of the Scottish Hospital, community groups and to the proponent inviting them to comment on a Draft Statement of Planning Principles
  2. conduct a public meeting in Paddington Ward on the Draft Statement of Planning Principles, inviting those people who provided comments in response to item 1 above and members of the public to attend
  3. following the public meeting, prepare a further report which makes a recommendation on the contents of the Statement of Planning Principles for adoption by Council

We wrote to property owners, community groups and the proponent by letter dated 1 June 2010 (PDF). We included with the letters a copy of the Draft Statement of Planning Principles (PDF) and requested that any responses be made to us by 18 June 2010.

A public meeting took place on 22 July 2010 at St Georges Church Hall, 245 Glenmore Road, Paddington (near Five Ways). We wrote (PDF) to those people who made a submission on the Draft Statement of Planning Principles (PDF) inviting them to attend the meeting.

The Council, at its meeting on 11/10/10, adopted a Statement of Planning Principles (PDF) for the redevelopment of the Scottish Hospital site as set out in the minutes of the Council Meeting (PDF). This followed our Urban Planning Committee's consideration of a report (PDF) on 20/9/10.

Planning agreement (VPA)

The Presbyterian Church (New South Wales) Property Trust (the Church) have submitted a proposed planning agreement to Council. The proposed planning agreement was made on behalf of the Church by its planning consultants, Urbis. The proposed planning agreement involves:

  • dedicating land to Council to form an extension to Dillon Street Reserve
  • footpath widening along Stephen Street
  • dedication of land to Council as a public road for the purpose of constructing 8 public parking spaces in Stephen Street.

Our Urban Planning Committee (UPC) considered a report (PDF) on the proposed planning agreement on 11/10/10 and made a recommendation to support in priniciple entering into a VPA and to enter into negotiations with PAC. Council at its meeting on 1/11/10 adopted the UPC recommendation (PDF).

The Planning and Assessment Commission held a public meeting at the Paddington RSL at 3pm on 23/4/12. The purpose of the meeting was to provide opportunity for the public to be heard prior to a decision being made on the application. The Commission heard various submissions from residents as well as from the Paddington Society, Council staff and Elected Councillors.

What other information is available?