Focus on key issues secret to City Deal success, Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten says

Focusing on four or five major areas is vital to the success of a City Deal, Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten says.

Mayor of Launceston Albert van Zetten outside the Launceston Town Hall. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

FOCUSING on four or five key priorities is vital to the success of a City Deal, Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten says.

Hobart’s long-awaited City Deal will finally be signed this weekend when Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits the city.

Ald van Zetten said the signing of Tasmania’s second City Deal was “important for the state and important for Hobart”.

He declined to comment on how the state capital should ensure the agreement’s success, other than underlining the importance of all councils working together to identify the “top four or five issues”.

Ald van Zetten said relations between the councils in the Launceston area had strengthened in the two years since their City Deal was signed.

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Launceston’s City Deal was signed after councils in the North put together a Greater Launceston Plan, which Ald van Zetten said caught the eye of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The deal has secured $95 million to clean up the Tamar estuary and has also set targets for improving foot traffic in the CBD, increasing employment in the North and fostering digital innovation through a Long Range Wide-Area Network.

“I think it (City Deals) is a model that can work if you do it right, because you focus on key issues — the big ones that are important,” Ald van Zetten said.

“(But) you can’t do every issue that’s important.”

Ald van Zetten said Launceston’s City Deal was “fairly well on track” two years into its initial five years.

The city is still seeking funding for its proposed hub to transform Launceston’s northern suburbs and the University of Tasmania’s move to the Inveresk precinct, near the CBD, remains incomplete.