The issues caused by the closure of a significant portion of the Summit Health Centre car park for 12 months to facilitate the construction of Mt Barker’s new hospital were entirely foreseeable.
While some measures have been implemented to reduce the impact of the lost car parks, such as shuttle buses for hospital staff and opening more parking spaces to the rear of the property, it seems they don’t go far enough.
Local business owners should not have to resort to acting as parking inspectors to preserve spaces for their clientele.
Additionally, patients and carers attending the hospital or the Summit Health Centre should not have to walk long distances, particularly if they have health conditions.
Built, the company constructing the hospital, has tried to find parking solutions for its contractors, including temporarily converting Paterson Reserve into parking.
The Mt Barker Council is still considering that option, despite community backlash.
However, it’s unclear whether that would alleviate the current parking challenge, or merely address future parking issues for tradesmen as construction ramps up.
Regardless of whether or not that goes ahead, it is clear that a workable solution was not put in place prior to closing the 250 parking spaces.
The $320m hospital is a huge investment in Mt Barker and is much needed.
It’s also unavoidable that such a large project would cause some inconvenience to the public for a period.
However, it is a shame that more was not done prior to the start of construction to address foreseeable issues.
It’s clear that, for the safety of patients, more must be done.
Land is at a premium near the hospital site, so it’s likely that any parking solution will inconvenience some residents in some way.
But if we can work together with SA Health to find a solution, it’s possible that this issue can be resolved in a manner that benefits the wider community.
Everyone needs to access health services at one time or another.
So hopefully, together, we can diagnose and treat this parking problem.
