Cessnock councillor wants new Maitland hospital built at Kurri Kurri

At least one Cessnock councillor thinks so.

Liberal councillor Paul Dunn passed a motion that will see Cessnock Council write to the state government calling for the new hospital to be moved from the proposed site at Metford to a vacant 40-hectare site within the grounds of the former Hydro Aluminium site next to the Hunter Expressway. 

Cr Dunn – one of three Liberal councillors in Cessnock – believes the site makes more sense than the proposed location in Metford, and would provide a badly needed economic boost to Kurri.

“We lost a lot of money when Hydro shut down, and we need something that will draw employment back to Kurri,” he said. 

But the motion has drawn the ire of Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison, who called it a “sneaky, delaying tactic” by the Liberal councillors.

“It’s very odd, these discussions could have and should have happened six years ago, but the government made their position clear that they were proceeding with the site at Metford,” she said.

“The site at Metford has been purchased, there’s a business case, it’s all ready to go, this is just the Liberals giving the state government an excuse to further delay this project.

It comes at a time when the government has signaled it is looking at other options for the hospital.

Earlier in March the new minister Brad Hazzard told Fairfax Media that everything was “back on the table”, and that the current project needed more money in order cater for the Maitland’s growing population.

On Friday Mr Hazzard’s office passed questions to Hunter New England Health, and Eddie Pirillo, the Hunter New England executive leading work on the new Maitland Hospital, poured water on the idea.

“The Metford site for the new Maitland Hospital was chosen after a rigorous selection process of more than 35 sites,” he said in a statement on Friday.​

The Herald