Opinion: A toast to Launceston, which is leaving Hobart in the dust

Another day, another battle for the soul of Hobart: the stadium, UTAS’ move from Sandy Bay, the Battery Point walkway, Kangaroo Bay. Civic life is different in Tasmania’s second city, writes Alex Treacy.

University of Tasmania's Inveresk campus, Launceston. Picture: UTAS

It’s another day in Launceston.

On Cimitiere Street, the cranes are putting the finishing touches on the new St.Lukes Health headquarters, a seven-storey, $27m timber tower. It looks magnificent.

At Youngtown, new dwellings are sprouting like mushrooms. St Leonards will follow soon enough.

At Mowbray, a series of dilapidated warehouses have come down to make way for the $43.6m Northern Suburbs Community Recreation Hub.

Invermay has been revived. The University of Tasmania’s Northern Transformation Project, the relocation of the campus from Newnham to Inveresk, has been uncontroversial.

The official opening of the University of Tasmania's $45.5m River's Edge building, part of the Northern Transformation relocation of the campus from Newnham to Inveresk. Picture: Alex Treacy

It’s not just visible developments changing the face of Tasmania’s northern capital, which, aside from its other many and varied achievements, birthed Melbourne.

A trio of proponents, two local, one global, are planning significant accommodation and mixed-use precincts for unloved corners of the CBD, bringing jobs, investment and tourists.

Launceston’s designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy continues to gather momentum, bringing new restaurants, bars, festivals and events.

Sorry, but Launceston is leaving Hobart behind in the dust.

I will show my hand. I am the Mercury’s Launceston and northern correspondent. It is my job to represent and celebrate Launceston.

But every day I am astounded to read my southern colleagues’ endless reports about the incendiary battles being waged for Hobart’s soul.

The Kangaroo Bay $50m hotel proposal by developer Chambroad.

The UTAS move from Sandy Bay to the CBD. The Macquarie Point stadium. Chambroad’s Kangaroo Bay hotel. The Battery Point walkway. The Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor. The kunanyi/Mount Wellington cable car.

In Brisbane, where I am from, you are defined by whether you live north or south of the river. In Hobart, you’re defined by whether you are for or against a certain proposal.

Concept drawings of a Macquarie Point Stadium which includes an outer shell of apartments, proposed by the Stadia Precinct Consortia. Picture: SolutionsWon

The differences between the two cities can be seen elsewhere. The City of Hobart frequently loses its way in the long reeds of the culture wars. Launceston’s council is much better at sticking to the ‘three Rs’ – roads, rates and rubbish.

Lest this stray too close to a paean, it must be said that Launceston is not immune to paralysis and blunder – no city is.

Save UTAS Campus group have launched a petition calling on the Hobart City Council to cease its support for the UTAS proposal to move the Sandy Bay Campus, chair Save the UTAS Campus group Prof Pam Sharpe and deputy Mike Foster at Hobart Town Hall. Picture: Chris Kidd

Council botched its acquisition of the Birchalls building in the Brisbane Street Mall. It will now have to take a painful haircut as it offloads the asset, while its redevelopment of Albert Hall will come in late and over budget.

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JAC Group’s Gorge Hotel has been forced to weather multiple appeals. If it is operational by 2027, as advised by the proponent, it will have taken more than a decade to get over the line.

Capital is rarely that patient.

Tasmania’s culture of no is all-pervasive. Launceston has not escaped its sticky tendrils.

But things happen in the north. Proposals are tabled, debated, refined. Often they proceed. Sometimes they are knocked back.

What doesn’t happen in Launceston is a rush to the barricades whenever a new idea lays siege to the castle.

Hobart draws up the moat and the villagers start bickering. Launceston sends out an envoy and gets to work.