Residents speak out over $8m redevelopment of Longueville Private Hospital

A planner behind a multimillion redevelopment of a north shore private hospital has hit back at concerns from local residents after objections were raised over privacy, traffic impacts and noise.

The hospital’s capacity would increase as part of the proposal.

Multimillion dollar redevelopment plans by a north shore private hospital has left local residents fearing a “full blown” hospital will be added to their quiet residential neighbourhood.

Longueville Private Hospital is facing community resistance over a $8 million proposal to boost the capacity of the hospital by creating 19 new beds, a rehabilitation gym and a hydrotherapy pool.

The three storey development would increase the hospital’s capacity to 48 patients which plans stated would “meet a clear demand for private patient beds within the Lane Cove area.”

But homeowners surrounding the Kenneth St site have raised alarm over the potential impact on their residential area including traffic, privacy impacts and overshadowing.

One resident described the expansion as an “exponential overdevelopment in a residential surrounding” that could result in “increased traffic flow” incongruent with its surroundings.

A photo of the current hospital.

Neighbour Peter May believes the development “significantly changes what is a discrete health care operation into a significantly larger health care precinct”.

“At three stories high it is well above anything in the precinct and will dominate the landscape which is a residential area,” he said in a submission.

“This proposal drastically changes a small private health care facility into a full blown commercial centre.”

Longueville Hospital is operated by Macquarie Health Corporation.

Resident Tom Payten said the development could also result in unacceptable impacts on visual privacy.

“If the application were to be approved in its current form, there would be significant privacy impacts on the private open space of our back yard. This would include impacts from eight new hospital rooms as well as potentially from the hydrotherapy pool.”

The hospital – operated by Macquarie Health Corporation – currently specialises in acute medical, gerontology, transitional non-weight bearing patients and palliative care.

An architectural plan of the development which shows compliance with the site’s height limit (depicted in blue).

Richard Dib – a planner on the project – said he was perplexed by the community objections towards the project.

“I don’t know why everyone’s going up against health when everyone relied on it during Covid,” he said.

“In the coming years it will be the only private hospital available in the area and imagine if your parents or children needed rehab services and the nearest was god knows where.

“I’ve seen some objections about the pool with people thinking there’ll be hundreds of people in it. But it’s not a community pool, it’s for a hydrotherapy that will have a maximum of 15 people.

“The way I see it is we’re building within our boundary and it will have a benefit for the local community.”

Development plans show the expansion would include four new carparking spaces, a shared ambulance bay, landscaping works and a service vehicle bay.

The facility would be staffed by up to four registered medical practitioners and 12 employees at any one time.

Plans stated the development would “contribute positively to the diversity of the streetscape”.

Development works would also include the demolition of the existing administration building and additions to the existing hospital and outpatients building

The proposal has been lodged to Lane Cove Council and is currently under assessment.