Merit of fight for hospital emphasised

David Benson-Pope. Photo: ODT

Dunedin's success saving its courthouse shows it is worth fighting the Government to keep the hospital in the central city, a city councillor says.

Cr David Benson-Pope described the courthouse this week as ''a monument to the effectiveness of political action''.

His comments came in a debate at a council meeting over a $16,000 analysis the council commissioned as part of its campaign to keep the hospital in the central business district.

The analysis identified a $21million boost to the city over the seven years of the rebuild if it stayed in the city.

However, it did not quantify the economic activity of the hospital being built at a site outside the central city, and it was criticised by Cr Mike Lord, who questioned its scope, and the questions asked of the researchers.

Cr Benson-Pope asked staff about what he described as questions of bias or incompetence in terms of the commissioning of the report.

Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie told him no elected official was involved in the process.

''We were determined that we wanted an independent report, and that was what we set out to achieve.''

Cr Lee Vandervis, who took part in the meeting via audio link from overseas, asked why the future needs of the hospital were not part of the analysis.

He said a ''modern, ideal'' hospital would require 10ha of land to deal with the increase of people aged over 65.

The report said the hospital, on 3ha, was ''at the smaller end'' of what was required.

Mr Christie said the analysis was ''a desktop exercise'' looking at the economic impact of the rebuild.

Cr Andrew Whiley asked if ACC was still working on its plans for the Frederick St car park site.

It emerged late last year the land expected to be used for the hospital redevelopment had instead been promised to ACC, which was given an exclusive due diligence period of a year to assess the development potential of the site.

Council chief executive Sue Bidrose said ACC was still in its investigation period.

''There are two government departments, ACC and the Ministry of Health, and I would expect two government departments to have discussions about what was the most important use of the land, as has been always said to those two departments right through our discussions.''

The council had been clear it expected the two to have discussions ''about who needs what''.

Cr Christine Garey described the report as ''a welcome affirmation'' of what people were saying about the importance of the hospital being in the city, while Cr Conrad Stedman, a former policeman, said he would hate to have to try to get an injured person to ''a hospital stuck on a hill'' in Wakari in snowy weather.

Cr Whiley said the council should not ''tell the Government what to do''.

''We need to work with the Government to get the best hospital and the best services.''

Cr Benson Pope responded he had read ''yet another horror story'' in the Otago Daily Times about surgery delays, which was not acceptable.

If the council had not campaigned to keep the courthouse open ''it would be standing empty now'' instead of being redeveloped. The council needed to do the same to keep the hospital in the city.

Councillors voted 12-2 to note the report, with Crs Vandervis and Whiley voting against.

They voted 13-1 to reiterate the council was ''willing to assist with any requests to help facilitate the rebuild in the CBD'' with Cr Vandervis voting against.