Planning tribunal to assess revised kunanyi/Mount Wellington cable car development application

The state’s planning tribunal will evaluate a revised proposal for a cable car on kunanyi/Mount Wellington, despite objections from numerous opponents of the potential development.

A scaled back development application for a kunanyi/Mount Wellington cable car will be assessed by the state’s planning tribunal, with the proponent hailing the move an “important step”.

But critics say the revised proposal is merely a “pig with lipstick”.

The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) published its determination on Friday, approving the filing of an amended application under section 22 of the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal Act.

It comes after the Hobart City Council voted at a special meeting in July to reject the Mount Wellington Cableway Company’s (MWCC) cable car proposal, following an independent consultant’s report that gave 21 grounds for refusal of the application, including that it would diminish the park’s cultural, recreational and landscape values.

Mount Wellington Cableway Co. Chair Chris Oldfield. Picture: Chris Kidd.

MWCC has appealed against the council’s decision, saying it has been “overwhelmed by the level of support in the community” for the cable car proposal.

The company’s revised application dramatically reduces the size of the proposed development by 40 per cent, abandons plans for a restaurant, allows fewer passengers in each cabin and reduces the cable car’s operating hours.

“The tribunal is satisfied that the proposed changes do not produce a development so substantially different from the original application so as to constitute a new development,” TASCAT’s determination read. “Although the amendments proposed may be numerous, the proposal remains centred around a cableway and ancillary activities.”

MWCC executive chair Chris Oldfield said the company was pleased with the determination.

“It’s an important step,” he said.

“We put a good case to the tribunal. We listened to community concerns about the size of our initial proposal, we’ve amended it accordingly, and we now look forward to the next chapter in this process being assessed.”

However, Residents Opposed to the Cable Car (ROCC), one of 10 parties to the appeal, said the amended application was a “pig with lipstick” and that the proponent would still need to overturn 30 grounds for the development’s refusal.

Conservationist Vica Bayley. Picture: Chris Kidd

“Despite the changes, this development still represents the privatisation of a public reserve, still has a widespread and defiant opposition and still has a mountain of substantial grounds of refusal to overcome,” ROCC spokesman Vica Bayley said.

Mr Bayley said the determination would mean the appeal likely wouldn’t be heard until the second half of 2022. It is currently listed for February 28.

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