Bayswater Council approves 24 car bays at St George’s Care Centre in Bayswater

A BAYSWATER aged care centre will create 24 on-street car bays and a footpath to facilitate an increasing demand for visitor and staff parking.

Amana Living’s St George’s Care Centre, located at 2 Essex Street, provides aged care services and has a nursing home with 80 residents.

Bayswater Council unanimously approved the centre’s proposal for eight line marked bays on Haddrill, Essex and Lawrence Streets, construction of a footpath along Essex and Lawrence Streets and ‘no parking on verge’ signs at last night’s committee meeting.

The centre currently has 19 parking bays but no dedicated visitor car bays.

Amana Living consulted surrounding properties via letter drop and door-knock, where 30 out of 34 properties were supportive or had no objection to the works.

Five residents were concerned about the removal of grass from the verge to accommodate the works, which prompted the applicant to change its proposal to have bays on the road carriageways instead of the verge.

Planning Solutions consultant Trent Will, who addressed council on behalf of Amana Living, said the owners would pay for the bays and footpath.

“Back at that time (in the late 1980s), aged care was a little different to what it is now, you only needed a small handful of staff to cater for the residents in that facility,” he said.

“Nowadays, the facility requires up to 36 staff at any one time and in addition to that, you have a number of specialists and consultants who visit the residents.

“When you also add visitors, family and friends into the mix, the number of vehicles in the facility exceeds the number of car bays that are available on the site.”

Mayor Dan Bull said the extra bays would enhance road safety and slow down traffic in the area.