Maitland councillors have thrown out a colleague’s suggestion for a train station and transport interchange to be considered in council’s submission to the State Government for Stage One of the new Maitland hospital.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Cr Robert Aitchison (ALP) raised the possibility of a transport hub, including a new railway station, during discussion on the new facility at a council meeting this week.
He moved to send council’s submission on the concept proposal for Stage One to the Department of Planning and Environment with an additional point suggesting the State investigate the possibility of a new railway station servicing the hospital.
“Access to a train station would also benefit the people of Tenambit, Chisholm and Harvest as well as visitors, hospital staff and neighbours,” he said. Cr Aitchison said this would be a first not only for Maitland but possibly Australia and that he would continue to pursue the matter, despite two of his Labor counterparts voting against his idea.
Cr Philip Penfold said he was surprised to see Cr Aitchison’s late amendment and said the new hospital was in close proximity to other railway stations.
Cr Henry Meskauskas asked how long the plan for a new railway station would hold up the new hospital development, but Cr Aitchison said councillors were getting sidetracked and that he was only talking about asking the State to give his proposal consideration. “Let the powers that be come back to us and say whether or not it would be warranted. Let’s just put it on our wish list.”
At the meeting councillors also voted in a new City of Maitland flag.
Councillors supported a new design replacing the previous flag designed in 2002. A report said the 2002 version carries elements that lean heavily on council’s previous branding and features and does not strongly emphasise the city’s coat of arms.
“The flag is a civic symbol for a city and therefore should be simple, meaningful, distinctive and enduring,” the report said. A flag does not usually carry a city’s branding but rather focuses on the Coat of Arms of the city. In Maitland, the city flag is present in the council chamber, is flown from the Town Hall, Maitland Gaol and at civic events and is provided to other entities in line with council’s Flying of Flags Policy. The purpose of a city flag as a civic symbol is to represent the city as a whole, the report said.
