A LOW-COST dental clinic will remain in Fremantle even if the local council sells the land, says the health department.

Council staff last week flagged the sale of three properties rented by community services in the CBD, although an old folks’ home in Hilton has since been taken off the list after it was discovered any cash from the sale would have to go back to the state government.

But the Fremantle General Dental Clinic, which caters for low-income patients, is still in the firing line and the health department says a business case for relocating elsewhere in the Fremantle area is currently being considered.

The clinic will stay put until the land is sold, but if that occurs before a new premises is found, the department says it’s looking at alternative plans to rope in private dentists or send people to clinics at Cockburn or Mt Henry as a stop-gap measure.

The council’s city business director Glen Dougall says the property sales came up as part of a general review of its portfolio, which had been guided by a new set of “streamlined” policies.

He says the three properties were identified as warranting further investigation to see if it was worth selling them, and each was being looked at on a case-by-case basis.

by STEVE GRANT