Blacktown Brain and Spinal Institute: Stephen Bali calls on Blacktown Council to reconsider land sale

An impassioned plea to reconsider the future of Blacktown’s CBD has been made as councillors consider a multimillion-dollar sale to pave the way for a world-first brain and spinal institute.

An artist’s impression of the Blacktown Brain and Spinal Institute. Picture: Supplied

An impassioned plea to reconsider the future of Blacktown’s CBD has been made by state MP Stephen Bali, as Blacktown councillors consider a multimillion-dollar sale to pave the way for a world-first brain and spinal institute.

Labor MP Stephen Bali, who previously served as a Blacktown councillor for 15 years, sent an open email calling for a new innovative vision for central Blacktown, which he described as the city’s “beating heart”.

It came just hours before an extraordinary council meeting was held on Wednesday night where plans to sell land in the city’s CBD to make way for the $800m Blacktown Brain and Spinal Institute was to be debated.

The BSSI is proposed to be a first-of-its-kind medical centre, pioneered by surgeon Dr Charlie Teo, and is planned to include a medical research institute, private hospital, five-star medi-hotel, retail space and residential apartments.

Mr Bali said councillors had the “difficult decision” to either sell Blacktown’s civic centre for a rumoured offer of $100m, which would fund a new council chambers and town hall, or develop a new, revolutionary vision.

An artist’s impression of the Blacktown Brain and Spinal Institute. Picture: Supplied

“Blacktown Council has the potential (to use) 15ha of land owned by three organisations and together come up with a new, revolutionary, and holistic vision to address traffic, liveability, jobs, parking, environment and, of course, festivals,” he wrote.

“The fundamental principles of the BBSI proposal, as presented to the council many years ago, have significantly changed. There are new ways of developing a 24 hour, vibrant city.”

Blacktown MP Stephen Bali.

Blacktown mayor Tony Bleasdale.

The Labor MP called on the council to be more transparent about the future of the project, after two years without any major update.

Dr Teo is currently before a NSW medical tribunal on allegations of “unsatisfactory professional conduct”.

In a statement, Mr Bleasdale said the council had approved the sale of council-owned land in 2021, subject to preconditions.

Mr Bleasdale also confirmed that Dr Teo remained part of the BBSI project, and that he “intends to carry it forwards.”

The resolution from Wednesday’s extraordinary meeting will be released on April 1.