Douglas Shire Council, Queensland Government locked into dispute over $41m Wangetti Trail
The Queensland Government has been put on blast by a FNQ council over a section of a new tourism track labelled ‘very different’ to what was agreed on.
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THE state government is at loggerheads with a Far North council after it was slammed for an about face on a section of the $41m Wangetti Trail, with claims the design is “very different” to what they originally supported.
Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said he was frustrated with the department’s new Mowbray North section of the track which he says “basically turns the original idea of a wilderness track into a footpath meandering through the suburbs.”
The Mossman-based council has declared it will not accept ownership for any construction on the new route, after being told a 2.25km mangrove experience board walk would now become a shorter track on road reserve south of Port Douglas.
The stand-off threatens to create another obstacle to the exciting tourism attraction.
“The department’s current proposal is disappointing and very different to what Council supported three years ago,” he said.
“While Council supports the Wangetti Trail as a regional tourism attraction, the current economic climate, lack of construction work done, and the much-reduced length and quality of the current trail proposal puts us in a difficult position.
“We do not believe ratepayers should be lumped with a depreciating asset and pay for its maintenance when it actually has changed so dramatically from what Council agreed to.”
Barron River MP Craig Crawford said his government hoped to come to an agreement with the Douglas council to fast-track the Wangetti Trail, saying their concerns won’t delay the process.
He believed they were not looking to “ban the trail” and was confident the planning issues can be sorted.
“We will have to go back to the drawing board and go back to Douglas Shire Council to work out what they want to do,” he said.
“We need council on-board for permission, for granting of permits and those sorts of things, this will now depend ongoing dialogue … to see if they are actually going to ban the trail.
“I am not picking that up with what they are saying.”
Mr Kerr said the original alignment of the trail included the 2.25km boardwalk and a 5km trail to Four Mile Beach.
The new plan is much shorter, with a 4.2km trail and a 395 metre boardwalk “using State Government Road reserve, Council roads and a significant portion over freehold land.”
Council was also left disappointed the original re-purposing of the old Mowbray Bridge could not proceed, with a concrete bridge over the Mowbray River built instead “with no input from Council officers.”
Mr Crawford said the design for the north Wangetti stretch was yet to be finalised and some of the concerns were “minor and easy to fix.”
“We want this trail to be able to go all the way to Port Douglas,” he said.
“I would be thinking the best place would be to finish it on the beach so I see that as something minor and easy to fix.”
Tourism Tropical North Queensland boss Mark Olsen said he was confident both the Douglas Shire and Queensland Government “will find a way forward to create this iconic trail.”
Originally published as Douglas Shire Council, Queensland Government locked into dispute over $41m Wangetti Trail
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