A Melbourne Building physiotherapy business has called on the ACT government to abandon plans to turn the London Circuit carpark into a compound during tram construction, saying it will not only devastate businesses but harm patients.
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Craig Honeybrook said he had opened his business Sport and Spinal Physiotherapy in the Melbourne Building in May, as a sister clinic to his Gungahlin practice. The business employed 20 people and he expected numbers to double within four years. He had invested more than $650,000 in the new clinic, which offered physiotherapy, podiatry, remedial massage, pilates and psychology.
But the closure of the London Circuit carpark during tram construction would have a severe impact, cutting its growth by as much as 50 per cent.
He believed his was the only health practice in the ACT with a full-time podiatrist working alongside physiotherapists and as a result a big focus was the rehabilitation of complex lower limb injuries.
"If our clients with lower limb injuries were forced to walk an extra 500-600 metres …. I would predict that this extra walking distance may in fact negate any benefit that the treatment would provide," he said in a letter to the government.
Plans to use the London Circuit carpark as a construction compound, with the loss of 250 carparks, were revealed in Capital Metro's draft environmental impact statement for the tram, on which submissions close on Friday.
A number of businesses in the Melbourne Building and nearby are upset about the proposal, worried, like Mr Honeybrook, about its impact on their livelihoods and their customers.
Osteopath BJ Field said about 40 per cent of patients at Canberra City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy required wheelchairs to walk or could only walk very short distances. Gary Rumble, of Kingsize Big and Tall, said many of his customers also had had health issues and needed to be able to park close by and safely.
Mr Honeybrook said he had been shocked to hear of the plan through the media and other businesses, with no consultation from the government.
At least three-quarters of his clients drove to the city for their appointments and with the closure of the carpark, they might choose to avoid the clinic. "Such a serious impact on patient numbers will ultimately affect the number of therapists and administration staff employed at our practice and the continued viability of the business," he said.
He called on the government to consider alternative locations for the compound, including near Commonwealth Bridge.
Capital Metro Minister Simon Corbell said construction compounds were needed along the route but final locations would be decided in consultation with the consortium chosen to build the line.
"We have to look at all appropriate options. There are a limited number of options and we have to manage this issue sensibly, and the government's commitment is to manage it sensibly, to talk with affected stakeholders and to make sure there are appropriate alternatives in place," he said.
"Whether or not London Circuit is chosen is yet to be determined."
A Capital Metro Agency spokesperson said the carpark would not be closed for the full four years as it was not needed for the initial part of construction.
