HAWKESBURY Councillor Mike Creed believes the Council is missing a golden opportunity to get an emergency services centre built at North Richmond.
Cr Creed believes Council should take advantage of the upcoming federal election to bargain with the federal and state governments for $5 million in funding for an emergency services centre at North Richmond, which was mooted by the Hawkesbury Horizons project.
Hawkesbury Horizons is a group of community members, who Council has tasked with telling it what the community needs.
At the previous Council meeting on May 10, four proposals were put to Council, including the emergency services hub, however, Council voted to adopt an idea for a holiday park on the banks of the Hawkesbury River at Macquarie Park.
Cr Creed said he was not opposed to the holiday park idea, and in his opinion, there was room to pursue both ideas.
“There were a lot of great ideas but my own personal opinion was the emergency services one was a brilliant idea and something that is vitally needed west of the river,” he said.
“I think as a Council we should be talking to all candidates and seeing if we can get some sort of funding to be secured.
“This is a perfect time to be lobbying our local candidates.”
Currently, there is an ambulance station in Richmond, the police station is in Windsor and a fire fighting station in both Richmond and Windsor.
There are rural fire brigades, however, they do not have the specialised training of paramedics or police.
If there is a car crash, or other emergency, west of the Hawkesbury River, emergency services have to cross either the Windsor or North Richmond bridges to get to there.
Cr Creed said $5 million was not a lot of money when compared with the vast sizes of state and federal budgets, and thought the low cost of the centre could be a big selling point.
He said the hub also faced the challenge of being financially viable after being built.
He said it a partnership between the state and federal government would be essential, with the federal government trying to reign in spending.
“I am not saying it is as simple as putting our hand out and asking for $5 million but we should be working to achieve something like that in the near future,” he said.
“It can be difficult for emergency services to get to these locations because the Hawkesbury is so vast.
“We need to make sure we have these services available in the community. We should be pushing, particularly the state government, to get some vital services west of the river.”
Cr Creed said he wanted to be clear, he was not criticising other ideas mooted by the Horizons project, but simply he thought the federal election as an opportunity to get vital services west of the river.
