Cessnock City Councillor Paul Dunn will be seeking the support of council to ask the New South Wales Government to abandon plans for a hospital at Metford, and instead build it in Kurri Kurri.
The site on which Cr Dunn has proposed for the hospital is the former Kurri Kurri Aluminum smelter adjacent to the Hunter Expressway.
Residents have raised concerns about the toxicity of the site, but Cr Dunn is assuring people, the land the hospital would be built on is "pristine" and "untouched" by the smelter.
"The site that we are looking at is a greenfields site. There is still trees on there and it has never been touched. It is a brand new site.
"We had a walk-through the aluminum smelter a couple of weeks ago and the small part of the aluminum smelter that is currently contaminated is going to be fixed over the next five years.
"That area is absolutely nowhere near the site that we are actually talking about," Cr Dunn said.
The $800 million Lower Hunter hospital was announced for a site in Metford in 2011, but there has been little progress since.
Cr Dunn said the hospitals' location in Kurri Kurri would create jobs in an area where unemployment rates are rising.
"We are standing up for the community.
"When Hydro Aluminum left, it made a $50 million dollar plus payroll disappear.
"Kurri Kurri is absolutely dying at the moment. They are worse than pretty much every part of the Hunter when it comes to unemployment due to Hydro leaving.
"We need to see some growth, and it is the perfect opportunity for us to put our hand up as representatives of the local community and say "hey we want this on our doorstep".
"The local community is absolutely killing for jobs, especially for not only the jobs the hospital would bring, it is all of those smaller jobs like the cafes, hardware and everything else that comes along with big business like that," Cr Dunn said.
Interview with Councillor Paul Dunn:
 |
| Councillor Paul Dunn. |
Interview with Councillor Paul Dunn:
