Co-located hospital’s day staff will face a parking ban

FRONTLINE staff in Cork’s proposed co-location hospital will be barred from parking on site.

The Beacon Medical Group, which is planning to build the €250 million facility on the grounds of Cork University Hospital, said the policy is designed to minimise traffic volumes in and out of the facility — one of the main concerns of local residents fighting the project. The comments came as the deadline for submissions on the Beacon group’s planning application for the CUH site passed yesterday afternoon.

About 60 had been lodged by Wednesday, and a further 20 by lunchtime yesterday. A petition signed by about 150 people was also handed in to City Hall. Beacon group chief executive Michael Cullen said his group was taken aback by the level of opposition.

There had been no objections to its plans to build similar facilities at Beaumont Hospital and at the Mid-Western Hospital in Co Limerick, he said.

The Beacon group has done all it can to ease local concerns about the CUH project, he said.

The facility’s 9am-5pm staff and administration staff will not be allowed to park on the site, he confirmed.

The Beacon group’s consultants, Faber Maunsell, said traffic generated by the new facility was predicted to comprise of 140 car arrivals and 40 car departures between 8am and 9am — a 1.6% increase in eastbound traffic flows and a 5.6% increase in westbound traffic — or about two extra cars a minute.

There will be a predicted 79 arrivals and 108 departures between 5pm and 6pm.

This is compared with the traffic generated by CUH during the same hour when the new cardio/renal unit is completed which equates to 991 arrivals and 402 departures between 8am and 9am and 263 arrivals and 677 departures between 5pm and 6pm.

The co-location hospital will result in an extra 323 parking spaces on the site. About 200 will be reserved for visitors and patient use. Just 123 will be for staff — most on shift work.

The city council wants to reduce CUH staff travel by car from 87.5% to 55% by 2010. Mr Cullen said the Beacon group’s policy on its staff parking would help achieve that target.

But his argument was dismissed by local Fianna Fáil Councillor Mary Shields, who has lived in the area for 35 years. Bishopstown is already saturated with traffic, she said.

“There are 16,000 students in Cork Institute of Technology and 3,500 staff, patients and visitors in CUH. Parking is a major problem. Let them build their hospital elsewhere in the city if they want.

“So what if the consultants with their dedicated parking places have to drive a few extra miles to the private hospital.”

However, Mr Cullen said people should appreciate the beneficial economic impact of the proposed hospital. It would employ 500 people, supporting a further 787 indirect jobs.

A planning decision isexpected next month.