1.destruction of local amenity.
Air pollution, noise pollution, overflow parking in residential streets. Light pollution at night. Loss of bush land and it's air cleaning function.
2. Traffic and transport problems.
- wakehurst parkway and warringah rd already at/beyond capacity. Wakehurst parkway can be closed by flooding. Intersection at hospital site gridlocked everyday. No planned public transport. Substantial additional traffic (ambulances, staff, patients, visitors, suppliers.)
3. Environmental issues.
Destruction of wildlife corridors. Loss of habitat for wildlife. Destruction of one unique area of native forest and wildlife that cannot be redeemed.
4.Health services distribution.
Provision of public beds insufficient, private hospitals focus on profits, not provision of health care for all. Centralising for administrative convenience does not provide health care where needed. Loss of existing public community hospitals at Mona vale and Manly. Proximity of new 10 storey hospital to newly built royal north shore hospital (duplication of services).

See attachment

Please see the attached document outlining my strong objections to the proposal of the 10 - storey Northern Beaches Hospital due to the destructive impact on the following areas near my home in Frenchs Forest:
- Destruction of local amenities
- Traffic and transport problems
- Environmental issues
- Distribution of health services

This is a very simple submission to write. The Northern Beaches Hospital is to be sited in the wrong place. It will destroy a vital natural area of bushland which needs to be retained. The transport and traffic conditions in the immediate area will cause absolute many ongoing problems.
The dismissing of the Mona Vale Hospital as the site for the new Northern Beaches Hospital is rather short sighted and has not been completely researched. The Frenchs Forest site for the new hospital goes right against public opinion.
It appears that the idea for the Frenchs Forest site has been handed down by previous State Governments with no thought being given to current thinking and demand.

I am 100% against this hospital being built in Frenchs Forest,
Clearly the politicians who came up with this idea don't live in Frenchs forest. There is always bumper to bumper traffic on Warringah road and the parkway gets closed on a regular basis so how are people from Mona Vale ment to get to the hospital if it is closed? They will just make Frenchs Forest a nightmare, people will be sitting in Traffic for most of the day, The Forest High School will suffer and not to mention the Residents who have lived here for years.

I wish to object to the Hospital proposal. I have lived in FF all my life and feel the traffic congestion on Warringah Rd and the Wakehurst Parkway could not cope with the increased traffic. How will ambulances get up the Parkway when traffic is heavy, I had to move to the side of the road one afternoon when an ambulance was screaming up behind me to get to Narrabeen. How many lives will be lost due to Parkway closure when flooding occurs? This is a residential area that will be destroyed if this hospital goes thru, there is plenty of land available at the Mona Vale Rd/Terry Hills near Super Centre Belrose that could house a large Hospital and those roads could easily be upgraded without buying up peoples houses for road improvements.
I walk to work when I can due to the congestion of our roads but I also fear for my life each time I cross the pedestrian crossing at the start of the Parkway Narrabeen side as the cars speed to beat the oncoming traffic and don't observe the crossing. There will be many accidents if there is a hospital to contend with as well. This plan was put on the table 40 odd years ago FF has changed and increased in population since then. Plan for the future growth and move the Hospital some where else.

While a new hospital is needed, Frenchs Forest is not the place for the following reasons:-

Once bushland is destroyed, it is lost forever, and the site is the habitat of various native animals.

There will be massive traffic problems, as the Wakehurst Parkway and Warringah Rd are regularly gridlocked, and the Wakehurst Parkway is regularly closed due to flooding which has occurred at least 6 times this year, including this last Monday. No plans have been exhibited for fixing this.

Land already exists for a hospital at Mona Vale, which could be built without closing the present hospital.

Public transport already exists along Pittwater and Mona Vale roads. where as Frenchs Forest is not easy to access.

The focus seems to be mainly on private operation and private beds, resulting on the loss of public beds. the hospitals Frenchs Forest is to replace are public hospitals.

I object to the proposed new hospital based on:
Location is inappropriate for Frenchs Forest - totally out of character.
We are already well served through three hospitals now in RNS, Manly and Mona Vale.
Mona Vale Hospital can easily be upgraded to higher standards on vacant land already available at that site.
Manly need an upgrade.

Traffic is already a mess in Frenchs Forest and as yet no concrete plan has been put forward to develop an acceptable solution to the already over-crowded road network yet what will happen when a hospital is built.
The Wake Hurst Parkway is already flooded many times yearly and no concrete plan has been proposed to 1 - fix the flooding and 2 - increase the number of lanes on this road. Minister for Planning I have written to and he has never given me a defined outcome to this problem. Not good enough.

"Private" Hospital - that is totally a State Government "spring it on us" decision. We need public hospitals and not corporations seeking profit. Not in any Government promise. Again we are let down.

Our bush land is already suffering so this proposal will further adversely impact on our wild life.

Ten-storey hospital is certainly not appropriate here in the Forest.

As disruptive and as disturbing as this project will obviously be to the local community and the surrounding area, and as a local resident who is well and truly in the firing line, I am pragmatic enough to know that this type of infrastructure is needed for our area and for our city. So I am certainly not one to say 'not in my backyard'.

However, I firmly believe that there MUST be steps taken to mitigate the impact on the local residents - mainly impact from noise generated particularly by long term traffic changes. Although there will no doubt be other ramifications such as parking problems, that will impact on the community.

In my particular circumstances our house borders the reserve between Karingal Crescent and Warringah Road. I know that the widening of Warringah Rd is a potential change being considered by the RMS. This will impact myself and the other residents along the reserve massively. Suddenly we will have what is already a noisy road even closer to our houses and even noisier (thanks to the widening) than it was when we purchased our properties. I think any fair minded person would agree that this is a huge impost not only on our standard of (peaceful) living but also on the potential value of our land. This could potentially cost us residents hundreds of thousands of dollars!

So (and I assume others in our position) would submit that some type of compensation or some type of noise abatement measure (probably both) MUST be implement to ensure that the impact is reduced. I'm unsure what these measure would involve but potentially it could include erecting a noise barrier along the length of the reserve for both safety and noise abatement.

This is a serious issue, not only for those in my position but for the entire surrounding community. I believe we generally accept that this project is necessary however I think I speak for most of us when I say that the impact of noise and traffic MUST BE CONSIDERED CAREFULLY AND CONSIDERATELY.

Thanks
Tim

Please consider the traffic impact on an area which is already heavily congested at peak times. The roads are not able to support the additional traffic a new hospital would bring.