Woolies in push for new centre

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WOOLWORTHS is stacking the city’s shelves and pushing forward with a plan for a new shopping centre at the Northern Beaches.

The supermarket giant lodged plans for its Trinity Beach Retail Centre at the corner of the Captain Cook Hwy and Trinity Beach Rd in December.

Woolworths senior development manager Jon Barker said the company would host an information session at Coastwatcher Park on Saturday to keep the community abreast of development plans.

“We are committed to bringing a modern and community minded development to Trinity Beach that will meet the local community’s expectations now and into the future,” he said.

“This is a high quality development and one we believe the local community can be proud of. We look forward to discussing our plans with as many local residents as possible on Saturday.”

Public submissions for or against the project can be made to Cairns Regional Council until April 27.

Division 9 Cr Brett Olds said he had heard differing opinions from the community. Existing traders were railing against the development and the public was largely supportive.

“Pretty much all the small business owners I’ve spoken to are dead set against it and say they’re putting in submissions,” he said. “They think it’s going to kill their businesses and they’re probably right.

“But there seems to be plenty of support from the general public, especially with another service station and childcare.”

The proposal includes a new shopping complex with a Woolworths supermarket, BWS bottle shop and about eight specialty shops, as well as a separate building for healthcare and retail businesses.

It also includes a standalone single-storey childcare centre and a service station with food and drink outlets to be developed by third parties if approved.

Woolworths said hundreds of jobs would be created during construction and about 150 permanent part-time and fulltime jobs once operational.