Mount Wellington Cable Car Company to submit additional development application details

UPDATED: An arborist’s assessment and new photos showing the visual impact of the cable car are among a response to be handed to the Hobart City Council by the company behind the controversial development.

An artist's impression of the Mount Wellington cable car. Picture: SUPPLIED.

EARLIER: THE company behind the Mt Wellington cable car says it will lodge further information on the proposal with Hobart City Council today to progress its development application.

Mount Wellington Cableway Company chair Chris Oldfield said the company had worked for six months to provide additional information requested by the council.

“Some of the requests for information were unexpected and necessitated the engagement of additional expert consultants which has resulted in the response we submitted today, including a substantial body of new work,” Mr Oldfield said.

“This took longer than we anticipated due to the need to engage, brief and co-ordinate consultancies.”

The proponent has worked for six months to provide information requested by council. Picture: MWCC

He said among the information to be lodged today is an assessment of whether council-owned land for the proposed access road to the base station has been contaminated by the McRobies Gully tip, an arborists assessment, new photo montages on the visual impact of the cable car and a specific mitigation plan for wildlife and bird management.

Vica Bayley from Residents Opposed to the Cable Car said opposition to the project remained widespread.

“They want the mountain protected for the special values that it holds, they want the amenity and the things that we enjoy about the mountain protected from privatisation, from commercialisation and from the impacts that would come with a cableway,” he said.

“The DA has long been claimed to be the document that’s going to answer everybody’s questions about this project: the traffic questions, the construction questions, the geotechnical questions and so forth.

“I guess they’re all the issues that we want to understand and understand properly, and we want to help the community understand those issues so that the community can make informed and personal representations to the Hobart City Council, if ever the DA is accepted.”

EARLIER: THEproponent behind a controversial cable car project for kunanyi/Mount Wellington is today expected to submit a response to Hobart City Council’s request for more information on its development application.

The Mount Wellington Cableway Company lodged the application last June but HCC has since made several requests for more information.

It asked the proponent to outline more details on traffic management, impact on Aboriginal heritage sites, visitation numbers and plans for an existing shelter at the summit.

MWCC last month said it had engaged several consultants to address some of the points, but declined the Mercury’s request for comment yesterday.

Vica Bayley outside parliament. Picture: EDDIE SAFARIK

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car spokesman Vica Bayley said the group would urge a “strong community response” should HCC accept the revised development application.

“We look forward to the public release of the additional information submitted to council but fail to see how it can be up to scratch and worth assessing when we know that the work required to properly inform it hasn’t been done,” he said.

“If a DA is accepted and advertised for public comment, we’ll be encouraging the community to make strong representations that highlight the issues that concern them.

“A large commercial building at The Pinnacle, serviced by a cable car would have wide-ranging negative impacts on the values and amenity of both the Mountain and adjacent suburbs.

“Whether it be traffic congestion, visual impact, biodiversity loss or the privatisation of publicly-owned reserves, people hold legitimate concerns and will be looking at the DA closely.”