TWEED MP Geoff Provest has appealed to the community not to lose sight of the end goal of achieving a new hospital, warning delays could cost lives.

Mr Provest's comments came as he defended his government's decision to select prime agricultural land at Cudgen as the site of their new $534 million Tweed Valley Hospital, a decision met with sharp opposition from local farmers and residents.

"I am committed for the hospital to go on that site because it is all about saving lives,” Mr Provest said.

"This is going to set up the health needs for the Tweed for the next 40 or 50 years. It is such a positive thing. Any other area would welcome the new hospital with open arms.

"The last thing I want to do is to go down the route of the police station - that took seven long years, with cost blowouts and things like that.

"This is about treating people with cancer and saving lives. We can't afford to wait any more longer. We are on a strict time-frame for the medical procedures.”

Mr Provest said the selection process undertaken by NSW Health Infrastructure had been overseen by an independent probity officer, to ensure no political influence affected the decision.

"It is probably one of the most heavily scrutinised decisions the government has made,” he said.

He assured residents the 4ha of rainforest on the 22ha site would be preserved, with only 16ha of farmland along with the remaining 2ha of residential zoning on the site to be rezoned for hospital use.

Meanwhile, Mr Provest said the community would be invited to sit on an advisory council for the new hospital.

"Within a week or two, we'll be advertising for community reps to go on an advisory council for the new hospital,” he told a business breakfast yesterday.

"That will be a great thing because the community will be involved with the doctors, the clinicians. You'll get to see it first hand, you'll get to live through any traffic issues, any other social issues with it, power or water.

"Even with some of the groups I've met already, there's talk about redirecting traffic to different areas and down Turnock St and a whole range of things.”

Mr Provest said he would do what he could to ensure farming continued in the area.

"It won't stop farming. We've got an intensive process now to make sure the farmers continue to farm,” he said.

"The farmers farm around Cudgen Primary School, has that ever stopped the school - no. I support the farmers and I want them to continue to farm because I see a future in that.

"The land we're taking from the farming community is 0.1% of the total farming land in the area. The important thing about farming land is that you don't fragment it.

"If we could have found another site, we would have found another site.”