The WA Planning Commission yesterday signed off on plans to build a $25.5 million children’s hospice in Swanbourne at the edge of the Allen Park public reserve.
It has taken three years of delays largely due to concerns from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) about some elements of the site that could be a fire risk. Approval is subject to conditions that mitigate those before a building licence is approved.
The hospice is a core project of the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation (PCHF) and Chairman Ian Campbell told the commission yesterday that more than $37 million had been raised through donation, while the developer, Hesperia, had created the plans on a pro bono basis. The design shows accommodation suites for 10 patients, communal living and hydrotherapy facilities.
There has also been controversy with some of its Swanbourne neighbours, numbering 53, who lodged objections to the plans, mostly pointing to the unsuitability of the site for such a sensitive facility – 17 leant their support.
In 2020, then Health Minister Roger Cook announced what he described as a long-overdue place of respite for about 2000 WA children with life-limiting conditions and their families, but the project stalled.
DFES, in its latest submission to the planning commission earlier this year, expressed concern about the fire risk of native vegetation in Allen Park.