Mini ambulance station planned in area with access issue
SERIOUS concerns have been raised about the accessibility of a proposed standby ambulance station on council-owned land at Holroyd.
The proposal for a ‘Paramedic Response Point’ (PRP), would see a pre-fabricated building with a small office area and parking for two ambulances located at 1-3 Peel Street.
A Health Infrastructure spokesperson says PRPs are strategically located around a number of superstations which have already been completed, including at Bankstown and Liverpool, to form local paramedic response networks, providing coverage in areas of demand.
However while supporting the proposal from Ambulance NSW in principal, the location of the Holroyd PRP site came under fire with 13 councillors calling for the Minister for Health to consider a more appropriate site within the local government area (LGA).
Councillor Paul Garrard described Peel Street, also known as the ‘Caterpillar site’, as a “bottleneck” with access issues that he said would be made worse by additional planned residential development.
“They know they’ve got a problem now and that’s nothing compared to the problems they’re going to have in the future if these developments go ahead,” he said.
“I think everybody in the city should appreciate the fact that this is a major concern.
“This emergency response point should be somewhere else.
“Let’s find another site that is going to service the community better.”
Councillor Eddy Sarkis said the congestion in the area was already a problem, especially on Fridays at prayer times.
“When you go to buy a property or invest in the property, they say ‘location location location’,” he said.
“Well, I think it fails on all three locations.”
Also adding his concerns about the proposed site, Cr Greg Cummings said that future housing developments would only increase traffic and make access even more difficult.
