Parramatta Council has cited the adverse environmental impact of a concrete channel on Milson Creek in rejecting an approach from the owners of Westmead Private Hospital to buy a chunk of Milson Park.
The hospital has a development application to expand its floor area by an extra 3546square metres.
The expansion would include two adjoining properties, one of which the hospital already owns and one which it is negotiating to buy plus the 900-square-metre section of Milson Park.
The park is classified as community land and the section includes 40metres of Milson Creek which contains both remnant natural vegetation and newly planted riparian habitat.
A report to the council meeting on Monday, July 28, said should the sale be allowed to proceed vegetation would be cleared and the concrete channel underneath the current hospital site extended, replacing the creek.
Milsons and Finlaysons creeks both traverse the park before joining the larger Toongabbie Creek which flows into the Parramatta River.
"It is considered that the loss of natural and planted vegetation along this section of Milsons Creek together with further concrete channelling of the creek would not improve the natural structure and functioning of the creek,'' the report said.
The creek and its riparian corridor also provide food for local wildlife including the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo.
The report also said the sale would not be conducive to achieving one of the goals in the Twenty25 strategic plan requiring land and water to be protected, respected and sustained.