Site wanted for parking

PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH

The Southern District Health Board has asked if the land, which will eventually become the outpatients building in the new Dunedin Hospital, can be used by staff at the current hospital for parking.

‘‘We are looking at that and we are talking to the council about parking requirements,’’ new Dunedin Hospital programme manager Mike Barns said.

‘‘We have requests from the hospital to provide temporary parking for staff there, but the mitigator around all this is ensuring that we have to provide safety to however that part of the site will be used.’’

Hospital staff, especially those working day shifts, have long complained of the high cost and scarcity of parking near the facility.

Night staff have also raised concerns about their often long walk to and from work.

Ground work is scheduled to begin on the former Wilsons block in January next year, although much of the land is reserved for an educational facility for the University of Otago and future hospital expansion.

The Dunedin City Council was considering if the consents granted to the hospital project would allow some parking on the land, and also if there was a need for more car parking in the area, Mr Barns said.

‘‘If it’s not going to be general parking, we are asking ‘can it be used for hospital staff parking?’, because they have to park quite a ways away at the moment.’’