Deadline nears for say on $100m resort

SUBMISSIONS relating to a $100 million development on the East Coast of Tasmania close in two days, amid growing concerns about the fasttracked nature of the proposal.

The development includes a 120-room luxury hotel, a golf course, 70 villas and 240 units, an 80-unit health retreat, 80 apartments, a village, function and conference facilities, improvements to an existing airstrip and upgrades to the 1820s Cambria Swansea.

It has been put forward by Melbourne group Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Management, which represents international investors from China and Australia.

In April, the Glamorgan Spring Bay council approved a request to change the planning scheme to allow the staged Cambria Green development to proceed via a public consultation process.

It will then go to the Tas- homestead near manian Planning Commission before a development application is submitted to council. Ronald Hu, chief executive for Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Development, said the development would attract high-end visitors to stay in the area. But not everyone is sold on the idea.

Swansea resident Dianne Smith said in a letter published yesterday in the Mercury that the huge scale of the masterplan was staggering.

“I am not against progress, but at what cost?’’ she said.

“The impact on the local infrastructure, overall environmental impact, imprint on wildlife and the internationally Ramsar-listed Moulting Lagoon, the air traffic and noise pollution from the upgraded airstrip at Dolphin Sands ...’’

Tasmanian Conservation Trust director Peter McGlone urged residents who had concerns to make a submission before the 5pm deadline on Thursday.

“You’re talking about a rural area with extraordinary conservation values on the property and adjacent to it the nearby Moulting Lagoon Reserve,” he said.

“The scale of the development will have a massive impact on the wetlands and on important forestry.

“It’s one of the biodiversity hot spots of Tasmania.”

Submissions can be sent to council general manager David Metcalf at admin@freycinet.tas.gov.au.