Attachment 1 - Preliminary Town Planning Advice · MCU15/0122

Need

36. The applicant has acknowledged in the application material that there is some
    conflict with the Noosa Plan. Further, the applicant has tried to justify the proposed
    development based on its location being close to Noosa Hospital and because
    there is purportedly a significant need for additional floor space to be made
    available to provide support services for the Noosa Hospital.

37. With respect to the matter of need the applicant has provided an Economic Needs
    Analysis undertaken by Urban Economics, which has been reviewed by Foresight
    Partners Pty Ltd, provided as Attachment 2. The review concludes the following:

   We conclude that there is not a need for the proposed medical centre, for the following
   reasons:

       1. The identified need for the proposal is based in part on an assessment one year
          ago (in July, 2015), which found that there was insufficient floorspace in the
          existing Noosaville Medical and Professional Centre to accommodate a 300m
          expansion of Noosa Radiology. Since that assessment was conducted,
          sufficient additional floorspace has become available in the existing centre to
          accommodate the expansion of Noosa Radiology.

       2. Other than Noosa Radiology, the Economic Needs Analysis by Urban
          Economics has not identified any specific medical practitioners that are
          seeking additional floorspace in the vicinity of Noosa Hospital.

       3. While over the next 15 years there will modest growth in demand for medical
          services in the trade area generally, there is no demonstrated need for
          additional GP and specialist medical services in the vicinity of Noosa Hospital,
          which already hosts a variety of specialist medical services.

38. Consequently, it is not agreed that there is a level of need for the proposed
    development that would be sufficient to overcome the significant level of conflict
    identified with the planning scheme.

Location

39. The issue of the proposed development being in close proximity to the Noosa
    Hospital has been raised as a potential ground for allowing the development. While
    it appears on face value that the location of the proposed medical centre is ideal to
    service the needs of patrons of the hospital, this is not agreed with.




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