Nursing home on Old Bowral Rd refused by Wingecarribee Local Planning Panel

Plans for a 90-bed nursing home set on a sprawling 7.7 hectares on Old Bowral Rd have gone before Wingecarribee Local Planning Panel.

An “inadequate” proposal for a 90-bed nursing home expected to cost more than $19 million was refused by the Local Planning Panel on Wednesday.

Old Bowral Estate, the owners of the sleek retirement village Gibraltar Park, submitted a plan to subdivide the property at 133 Old Bowral Rd and build a nursing home on the second lot.

The 7.7 hectare property currently has approval to create 106 independent living units for retirees, with 38 units already occupied and another 20 units about to be built.

The development application outlined a plan to build a complementary nursing home on site to cater to the needs of the Gibraltar Park residents and the wider Southern Highlands community.

Gibraltar Park retirement community on Old Bowral Rd, Bowral. The site was to be subdivided to create an adjacent nursing home.

Ross Garlick addressed the Local Planning Panel to emphasise the benefits of the proposed application.

“The nursing home is able to provide services under the auspices of what’s called ‘ageing in place’ … to allow the residents of the retirement village and indeed the wider community to remain in the community for longer with the support and services they need,” he said.

Mr Garlick said Estate had partnered with the not-for-profit organisation Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institute to provide a high level of care for elderly people and patients affected by dementia.

Council staff had recommended the development application be conditionally approved, but the Local Planning Panel disagreed. In their discussion with Mr Garlick, Panel members cited issues with capacity, zoning, and the information provided.

Chair of the Wingecarribee Local Planning Panel, Julie Walsh, said the panel had voted unanimously to refuse the “inadequate” and “unclear” application.

“The panel determined to refuse the application, essentially because of the inadequacy of the documentation and the inability to establish … whether the site has existing use rights and is therefore a permissible use in the zone,” she said.

Ms Walsh said the panel had not been provided with a letter from the Rural Fire Service in terms of the land being bushfire-prone.

She advised Old Bowral Estate to seek legal and planning advice on permissibility and existing use rights before lodging an appeal.

38 independent living units are already occupied at Gibraltar Park retirement village, which was approved in 2004.

A spokesman for Old Bowral Estate said the group would continue collaborating with Wingecarribee Shire Council.

“We see this project as a strategic benefit to the local community and we’re continuing to work with stakeholders at council to achieve this positive outcome,” he said.

The rejection of the nursing home comes not too long after an application to build a seniors housing residence in Bundanoon was refused.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates a third of Southern Highlands residents are over the age of 55 currently, and that number is projected to rise to a half by 2041.

Given the ageing population of the area, many residents are concerned there is not enough consideration being given to where elderly locals will live in the future.