Mt Wellington Cableway Company’s DA to be publicly advertised for comment by Hobart City Council from Monday

Supporters and opponents of the kunanyi/Mt Wellington cable car project alike will finally have a chance to have their official say on the development from next week. LATEST UPDATES >>>

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CABLE car access to the top of kunanyi/Mt Wellington is now the closest it has ever been to reality, with the development application open for public comment from Monday.

A statement released by the Hobart City Council on Wednesday morning confirmed all information previously requested from the Mt Wellington Cableway Company to complete the application had now been received and reviewed.

Mount Wellington Cableway Company’s Chris Oldfield, on the summit. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Members of the public will be able to view the planning application with all accompanying information provided by the proponents and give comment from Monday over the following four weeks.

The statement said it was expected the application will be considered by the council in July and that it also would need to be consideration by other relevant authorities outside of the council.

The company first lodged the development application with the council in June 2019.

MWCC chair Chris Oldfield said on Wednesday the two major new pieces of information lodged with council this week were an Aboriginal archaeological survey of the project’s entire footprint and a letter from the Tasmanian Fire Service accepting the company’s bushfire management plan.

The company had lodged a Supreme Court appeal of the state’s planning tribunal decision about the company’s Aboriginal heritage assessment requirements.

In February, the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal ruled Hobart City Council’s demands for more information about the project’s impact on Aboriginal heritage were lawful and reasonable.

Artists impressions of the proposed cable car on kunanyi/Mt Wellington. Image: MWCC

However, Mr Oldfield said the Aboriginal survey submitted to council this week had found no heritage sites or relics that would warrant further investigation,

“It is important to note while the provision of the additional information and the massive work that underpins this strengthens MWCC’s development application, it has not changed the project design we publicly released for community feedback in 2018 in any fundamental way,” he said.

“It will provide between $79 million to $99 million net economic benefit to Tasmania’s economy each year, 200 jobs during its construction and 80 new jobs (50 FTE) in engineering, hospitality and the tourism sectors once operational.

“Once we get planning approval, we are in a great position to start work with the aim of having the cable car operating within two years.”

Mount Wellington cable car artist's impressions. Picture: SUPPLIED.

Residents Opposed to the Cable Car welcomed the impending public release of the full DA for comment, but questioned the credibility of the Aboriginal heritage assessment.

“We already know this loathsome project would come at a cost to natural and cultural values in Wellington Park, impact on people’s experience of kuannyi and privatise a much-loved public reserve,” said ROCC spokesman Vica Bayley.

“The DA will paint the full extent of those negative impacts and we’ll be encouraging Tasmanians to have a say and appeal to Hobart City Councillors to protect kunanyi’s values and amenity and resist the push to privatise parts of it for pure commercial gain.”

More to come...