East Gippsland councillors have refused a skin cancer clinic on the outskirts of Bairnsdale, overturning the action recommended by staff.

What happened: The clinic was pitched for a low-density residential zone at 236 Bullumwaal Road, Wy Yung.

It was the second time the development had gone before council after the vote was delayed at an August meeting. 

At last week's meeting, councillors heard from the applicant, Dr Tom Alwyn, Bullumwaal Road residents and council staff before debating the issue.

The vote split the chamber, with supporters citing a badly needed regional health service and voting with the council officers recommendations. Opponents sided with 17 residents who objected due to neighbourhood character, road safety and stormwater concerns.

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Clinic on the move

Alwyn, who operates the East Gippsland Skin Cancer Clinic in Metung, told council he'd been searching for premises for three-and-a-half years since being asked to leave his Metung rooms in 2023.

“I have constantly been looking for an alternative,” he told council.

Alwyn acknowledged the concerns from local residents about the clinic bringing more traffic to a low density area but said: “Medical clinics all around the country work in suburbs in residential areas that employ hundreds of employees and see hundreds of patients.”

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Stormwater the core issue

The three residents who spoke against the new clinic claimed the drainage on the street was notoriously terrible and said adding a busy medical facility would lead to further problems.

One resident said: “If the site becomes saturated from prolonged or heavy rainfall, the property immediately below is one of the properties that will be affected. This quickly goes from being the applicant's problem to my problem.”

The practice manager of East Gippsland Skin Care Clinic, Meryn Mastrocola, said in response to these concerns: “We propose to install a large capacity rainwater tank to catch the water from the roof, that would effectively remove the load of the stormwater from down the hill.”

What did council staff think?

The council received 17 objections relating to traffic safety, parking, stormwater and amenity concerns, but council staff recommended in favour of the development, saying it was “consistent with the planning scheme and that many of the concerns raised by objectors can be managed through planning permit conditions”.

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The vote

Councillor Tom Crook spoke in favour of a new clinic with heavily engineered drainage conditions requiring designs to withstand severe flooding events. He said “a refusal needs to be supported by evidence, not simply community or councillor concerns". 

  • Councillor Arthur Allen agreed: "We want a skin clinic, but not here, in my view, is not a legitimate reason to override the planning scheme.” 

Councillor Joanne Eastman spoke against the development, saying it didn’t belong in a neighbourhood setting.

Councillor Sonia Buckley voted against the clinic, but warned that the matter could be escalated to VCAT.

"As councillors, we have the onerous task of trying to keep these kinds of matters out of VCAT," she said.

The planning application was denied with five councillors voting against the development and four in favour.

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