Cable car company lodges fresh information on development

UPDATED: New documents to support the proposed kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car have been lodged today amid hopes for an imminent final decision.

THE company behind the Mt Wellington cable car proposal says it is hopeful to have a council decision on the project by the end of the year.

The Mount Wellington Cable Car Company lodged documents with the Hobart City Council on Monday to address a series of questions arising from its original development application

which was lodged in June.

Company chair Chris Oldfield said the company had agreed to several extensions to the coming consultation processes and was hopeful of a result by the end of this year.

“That really is dependent on Council, [but] we would certainly hope so,” he said.

“We’ve got a number of Tasmanians who’s invested in this project and Tasmanian families and I think they’ve been very patient.

“It’s important that we get this right. The timeline is important, but getting the information right is more important than we would certainly hope by the end of this year that we are well progressed, because the project is sorely needed.”

Sentinels from Residents Opposed to the Cable Car positioned at the outline of the proposed Pinnacle Centre on Mt Wellington, Tasmania at sunrise on Monday, January 6, 2020.

Among the information to lodge with council was 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 specific mitigation plan for wildlife and bird management.

Recently, the Mercury asked readers about the proposal in its Big Issues survey. The 1473 respondents were 51.7 per cent in favour of the proposal.

EARLIER: CABLE CAR COMPANY TO PROVIDE EXTRA DETAILS

Vica Bayley from Residents Opposed to the Cable Car says 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.

“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.”

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor called for the new information provided to council to be made public as soon as possible.

“This is a public mountain, the pinnacle of kunanyi belongs to the people of Tasmania. It is a sacred place to Aboriginal people. This is not just any piece of real estate.

“It’s the mountain and people feel very strongly about us, the proponents should make sure every bit of information that’s relevant to this development application is made public.”

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