By Rhett Burnie
MITCHELL Community Health (MCH) has avoided a costly battle to rezone Wallan’s Hadfield Park for the long-awaited Super Clinic, with the purchase of a parcel of land in the town’s centre last week.
In a statement released last Wednesday, MCH Chief Executive Officer Chris McDonnell said the organisation allocated part of its reserves and borrowed money to fund the purchase, which is believed to have cost around $1.6 million.
A confidentiality agreement prevented Mr McDonnell from disclosing the exact address of the site but reliable sources have told The North Central Review the land is located next to the United petrol station, across the road from Wallan Secondary College.
The land sale puts an end to protests by a number of residents who were furious when part of Hadfield Park was earmarked by MCH and Mitchell Shire Council for the clinic’s construction.
It also removes a costly hurdle for MCH, which would have had to gamble up to $100,000 for a planning panel hearing that would make recommendations to Council on whether part of the park should be rezoned to make way for the clinic or not.
MCH Chair John Thompson said the purchase was an important step forward.
“The confirmation of land is one of the first, and most important, steps in delivering the Super Clinic for the community of Wallan,” he said.
He said it would also speed up the delivery of the clinic.
.“We are confident that the Super Clinic will be able to be completed within the timelines to be negotiated with the Department of Health and Ageing.”
Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell said the Federal Government and MCH had been working on the purchase for a long time.
“We’ve been working on this prior to council deciding on Hadfield Park,” he said.
The purchase “freed up” the project, which would have taken Council “at least another 20 months” to finalise the planning work if Hadfield Park had been the only option, Mr Mitchell said.
Mr Mitchell said he had advocated for a long time for funding for the clinic but a “a change of direction in council policy about 12 months ago left a strong indication that this project would be years away if we had to rely on council.”
Mr Mitchell said he now expects the project “to be moving very quickly.”
Mitchell Shire Mayor Graeme Coppell said council decisions took a long time because of lengthy legal processes.
“Council had not resolved on Hadfield Park, they had resolved to take the process further to bring it to a panel hearing,” Cr Coppel said.
“This is a planning process that is not a Mitchell Shire or Mitchell Shire Council process, it’s a legal planning process,” he said.
Wallan Environment Group president John Robinson said the group is aware of the purchase and happy Hadfield Park is off the cards.
“It’s a decision that should have been made from the beginning,” he said.
Mr Robinson called the purchase a “good outcome”, and said council should be wary before considering giving away public open space again.
“Basically it puts council on notice,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Thompson said the attention of MCH had turned to getting the clinic off the ground.
“We are committed to developing a communication and consultation strategy that will invite input from all community members to inform the design and development of Super Clinic services,” he said.
The multimillion dollar clinic will provide general practice, physiotherapy, podiatry, mental health and counselling services.
It will also offer clinical training and education in partnership with major Victorian universities and post-graduate medical training institutions.
