Bloomfield internal road upgrade waiting on 'heritage' approval

A planned upgrade of internal roads on the Bloomfield hospital campus by Orange City Council is waiting on an archaeological assessment of the site, required by heritage authorities.

Orange City Council's planned work on the Bloomfield Health Campus internal roads project is in two parts :

• a link between Huntley Road and the Mission Australian aged care facility.
• a link between that stage and the Country Club and to the northern entrance off Forest Road.

Both stages have already been given Council development consent however the second part is also awaiting approval from the NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage.

The road works between Huntley Road and Mission Australia are expected to begin on 9 May.

The design for the second part of the project has been completed and funds have been allocated in the budget.

The total costs of the works is $670,000 which has been funded by Orange City Council, the Orange Ex services Club, Health Infrastructure and Mission Australia.

The project needs Council approval and NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage consent.

Orange City Council lodged the development application for the road works in August 2015 and sought NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage approval.

But, by January this year NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage approval had not been provided.

At that time Council chose to grant the consent that was within its powers.

Despite Council consent, work cannot proceed until NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage consent is granted.

Three weeks ago the NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage advised Council that an archaeological assessment was required before the matter could be considered.

Council argued that the roadworks would follow an existing road and the archaeological assessment was not necessary.

This argument was not accepted and Council is now seeking quotes for the assessment.

Parking in the precinct is a separate matter for Health Infrastructure. The road upgrades will provide linkages to the existing number of spaces but will not provide new spaces.