![Health minister Ryan Park (left) said Dubbo Council risked reputational loss but mayor Mathew Dickerson (right) has stood by council's decisions. Pictures from file Health minister Ryan Park (left) said Dubbo Council risked reputational loss but mayor Mathew Dickerson (right) has stood by council's decisions. Pictures from file](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/137578502/6953f6af-f825-439a-87c2-f9858a75d45c.png/r67_0_2246_1223_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Dubbo Regional Council risks reputational loss over its handling of the rehab centre debacle, a scathing letter from the health minister warns.
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But mayor Mathew Dickerson has stood firm by council's decisions.
In a letter addressed to the Dubbo Regional Council, health minister Ryan Park said there would be "reputational risks" for council should they not cooperate with the Western NSW Local Health District in finding a new site or making the chosen site suitable for a rehab centre.
"The donation of suitable land for the centre, or the provision of support in kind, such as landscaping of the Spears Drive site to address residents' privacy concerns, would address council's own concerns," minister Park wrote in the letter.
"It would also reduce the reputational risks faced by council that will inevitably exist if the previous undertakings do not materialise."
A four-hectare site on Spears Drive was confirmed as the location for a long-awaited and widely-supported drug and alcohol rehab centre in February of this year.
The announcement was met with immediate opposition, with local residents questioning the suitability of a residential area for such a facility.
In a May council meeting, the council moved to write to the minister formally opposing the Spears Drive site.
"Dubbo Regional Council currently has a resolved position that we oppose the current location of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Rehabilitation Facility," Cr Dickerson said.
"I have sent a letter to the Minister asking him to reconsider the state government's preferred site at Spears Drive."
Minister Park confirmed NSW Health would be open to changing the centre's location if council comes forward with a suitable alternative, noting a site on North Bunglegumbie Road which was controversially withdrawn in 2018 for future residential development.
"At this late stage, there would be a narrow window of opportunity for the location of the centre to be reconsidered if the initially preferred site on Bunglegumbie Road were to be made available," he wrote in the letter.
He added that there are already successful residential rehabilitation centres running in Orange, Wagga Wagga and the Central Coast. However, he said developing the facility in an area where there is not existing housing would make the process smoother.
"The Bunglegumbie Road site was initially preferred by the district due, in part, to the lack of existing residential neighbours," he said.
"Any future residents who settle nearby would purchase their property in the knowledge of the centre's development. There would be obvious advantages to the harmony of nearby residents if that was the case."
Legislative Council member and former Dubbo mayor Stephen Lawrence said he was "not surprised" by the minister's response.
"I am not surprised the minister has seen fit to warn council of the reputational consequences of breaching the years-long undertaking to provide land," he said.
"This undertaking was, as the minister notes, made to state and federal governments and secured funding commitments. It was a very serious matter."
"The withdrawal of the preferred site from offer has led directly to the selection of Spears Drive. Dubbo Regional Council needs to own this decision and either stop pretending they oppose Spears Drive, or offer alternate land that was on offer for years. It's pretty simple."
Asked by the Daily Liberal whether council would reconsider its decision to take the Bunglegumbie Road site off the table, Cr Dickerson did not provide comment. He also did not answer whether council would pursue further action to block work on the Spears Drive site.
"Nothing in the letter from the minister changes the basic fact that the State Government has the ability to change the location of the facility and we urge him to do so," he said.
"The responsibility for the final location of the alcohol and other drug facility lies totally within the control of the Minister."
Council says in the drug rehabilitation business case endorsed in 2018 there was no commitment to gift a parcel of land to the government and no specific parcels of land were identified.
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