Regardless of stiff opposition from the Greek community, Yarra City Council’s Planning Decisions Committee last night, 28 February, approved the development of a ‘sub-acute’ mental health facility next to the Greek Community’s Alphington Grammar school.

The Council has received over 180 objections, mainly from the Greek Community school Alphington Grammar, while only receiving nine letters in support of the facility.

The mental health facility would be run by commercial provider Healthe Care, whose owner, Australian Unity, bought the Alphington site for $14.75 million in December according to a report in The Age. Neos Kosmos has contacted the commercial provider Healthe Care and has yet to receive any comment.

Healthe Care plans to spend another $34 million repurposing the former aged care home into a sub-acute facility with 32 beds. In the planning report presented to councillors, Yarra Council planning officers suggested many of the objections to the proposal were erroneous.

According to the Planning Decisions Committee’s agenda, the three councillors anticipated to attend the meeting were Cr Anab Mohamud, Mayor Cr Claudia Nguyen and Cr Bridgid O’Brien. Neos Kosmos contacted Cr Nguyen and Cr Mohamud regarding the decision and was yet to receive a reply.

 

Yarra City Council does not respond

Neos Kosmos asked several questions from the Council as there were over 180 objections to the planned development of the sub-acute mental health care facility. The Department of Health and Human Services Victoria (DHHS) Mental Health Prevention and Recovery Care a Clinical (PARC) services and community partnership model of sub-acute mental health 2016 report provides the basis of a ‘step in’ and ‘step out’ residential program for clients.

In the report there is no reference to ‘mild to moderate’ mental health issues as highlighted in the Yarra Council planning report. The Yarra Council planning report states that most of the disorders will be ‘mood depression and anxiety.’

The PARC report states that mood depression accounts for 19 per cent of sub-acute services and 48 per cent would, according to the PARC report, suffer from “schizophrenia, schizotypal, and delusional disorders”.

Earlier this morning Neos Kosmos asked again for a statement given that the councillors approved the building of the mental health facility.

A spokesperson from the Yarra City Council wrote: “Last night, Yarra City Council’s Planning Decision Committee approved an application relating to the redevelopment of a site located at Old Heidelberg Road in Alphington. The application was consistent with the relevant planning policy framework and the Yarra Planning Scheme.”

“Any further queries on the proposal should be directed to Healthe Care.”

The Council’s Senior Adviser for Media and Communications also sent Neos Kosmos a link to the Planning Decisions Committee’s agenda, which was the basis of our questions. The Victorian planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny has also been contacted and Neos Kosmos has not yet received a comment.

 

Gateway to conflict

There has previously been conflict between the Yarra City Council and Alphington Grammar School when the Council ordered the school to remove a security gate that would allow public access to parts of the school. Now Dr Vivianne Nikou, the school’s principal, has expressed concerns about mental health patients and the general public having access to the school’s premises and students.

In an opinion piece in The Age on 28 February, writer Anna Spargo-Ryan suggests that Dr. Nikou and the school community is intolerant of mental health issues. Spargo-Ryan wrote that Dr Nikou “… told ABC Radio Melbourne’s Ali Moore on Tuesday morning, ‘It’s all cleverly worded in ‘primary conditions’ [the proposal] won’t be any of the more serious ones that would concern a school. Can it rule out sex offenders?’

“You’d be having patients who have acute needs just meandering through the school, (most of which are now bourgeoise apartments). And while mental health care still falls short in many ways, modern-day hospitals are a long way from lost souls in white nightgowns.”

Spargo-Ryan does not reference Dr Nikou’s statements on SBS Radio, that “the school is not opposed to the creation of mental health centres”, but in that she finds disturbing that mental health patients in this instance would have access to the school’s premises and the school’s students.

Dr Nikou has also expressed frustration on the lack of transparency from the local council.

Dr Nikou said that the solution is simple: “If they close Old Heidelberg Rd the problem would be solved” saying that in this case the safety of students will be guaranteed.

Neos Kosmos has sought further comment from Dr Vivianne Nikou.