Barrett St Hospital

PHOTO: GRANT MATTHEW/STUFF Progress is being made for clearing the contaminated former Barrett St Hospital site in central New Plymouth, seen here in 2018.

Progress is being made towards clearing the former Barrett St Hospital site in central New Plymouth.

The site, prime real estate worth $5.3 million, has been contaminated for some years with substances including asbestos and lead.

Last May, New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom wrote an open letter to Eugenie Sage, Minister for Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), calling on the Government to clear the site of contaminated material and the non-heritage buildings as soon as possible.

The former Nurses’ Home, the Dawson St gates and the brick wall are all marked as Category A Heritage Items within the New Plymouth District Council’s District Plan, which protects the structures from demolition.

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