The 800sq m garden, managed by the charitable trust Lincoln Envirotown, is under threat as Lincoln Maternity Hospital prepares to close. The hospital’s services are to be relocated to the Selwyn Health Hub.
The garden is located on land at the hospital site, which the Canterbury DHB has made available since the garden’s establishment in 2007.
“We want it to stay there. It’s actually a little centre for the community,” Jarvis said.
She was hoping that if the board decided to sell the land, it would include as a condition of sale that the garden be retained. And if it did not sell it, whatever use was decided for the land would enable the garden to remain there.
Jarvis said the current site was close by and accessible for the town’s schools, a kindergarten which had its own plot, and over-55s housing.
Its central location was ideal for volunteers to tend community plots and for the many Envirotown workshops and working bees.
However, the CDHB is noncommittal on whether it will aim to retain the gardens.
Executive director infrastructure Dr Rob Ojala said in a statement the CDHB was considering its future requirements for the Lincoln Maternity Hospital parcel of land.
If the land was formally declared surplus to requirements, there would be a strict statutory disposal process to follow, involving public consultation, board and ministerial approval.
It would include an investigation of the acquisition history of that land for any offer-back obligations to any former owners.
“While the DHB’s requirements are currently being assessed, no decision on disposal has been made,” Ojala said.
