The fate of the Royal North Shore Hospital is looking grim for some concerned citizens.
In 2023, the Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) put forth the RNSH Campus Masterplan. The document is a strategic plan for the next forty years, from 2023-2063, identifying zones for both clinical and non-clinical long-term expansion.
The Plan identifies the site of the eastern portion of the campus as a primary zone for clinical expansion, due to its proximity to the existing infrastructure. At the same time, the southern portion of the campus has been identified for “supportive service” expansion – carer accommodation, retail, corporate offices.
Property and Development NSW (PDNSW) owns the land to the south of the campus. Concerned citizens are outraged that the land was given to PSNSW, as that land is now out of the scope of the NSLHD.
‘Over the years, two parcels of hospital land have already quietly been transferred from the Health portfolio to Property and Development NSW,’ says a spokesperson from the SAVERNSH community group. ‘The community would like to see the vacant parcel of land moved BACK to the Health portfolio and used for clinical services.’
Land selling has been a recurring issue for the Royal North Shore Hospital, where in 2021 the NSW Government proposed a 45-storey mixed use development on the site fronting Herbert Street.
Willoughby City Council released a statement assuring the community Council would write to the then Liberal Premier and key ministers to preserve the lands for future hospital growth.
‘Council’s concerns include the bulk and scale of the buy-to-rent tower, overshadowing of and loss of view from the nearby residential development and public open space areas,’ wrote Willoughby City Council.
Community group SAVERNSH are further dissatisfied with the Masterplan due to the NSW Government’s impending housing policy changes, which will see development around rail stations, and believe the Plan does not meet future demands of Sydney’s growing population.
‘The Royal North Shore Hospital Master Plan … is an attempt by the state government to take a public facility and monetise it to solve short term political problems, rather than prepare the site to meet the medical needs of the future,’ says SAVERNSH.
The Royal North Shore Hospital Masterplan is available to view online at www.nslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/AboutUs/Documents/2023/231108-RNSH-MP-REPORT.pdf
