Coast cableway ‘better left in past’: councillor

A HINTERLAND cableway has been labelled “better left in the past” by a Gold Coast councillor after a postal campaign called on Springbrook residents to give their opinion.

Division 9 councillor Glenn Tozer has taken aim at Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates after residents received a letter and postcard from her office, asking them to “voice their views” on the controversial idea.

Proposals for a cableway have long been a source of fierce debate in the area, with environmentalists previously citing concern for rainforest and a belief Springbrook could not cope with a mass influx of tourists.

But Cr Tozer yesterday said that with a lack of any clear proposal or investment, community sentiment had become more divided.

“Why (Ros Bates) keeps talking about it is confusing to me,” he said. “Frankly, I’ve consulted the community a lot over the past eight years and I think they are simply tired of the chatter and would prefer we focus on newer, innovative ideas to drive our city’s economy and tourism sector forward.

“I’m just not convinced. With bushfire risk and environment increasingly important to people, this cableway idea is better left in the past.

“Council’s pre-feasibility work will consider (fire risk in eucalypt bushland and environment), I guess.”

Mayor Tom Tate announced in January the council would fund a $1 million feasibility and environmental impact study provided he won the March election.

But Ms Bates hit back at Cr Tozer, saying she had already contacted Cr Tate about parking and road issues in the Springbrook area.

“(Cr Tate) has come back putting responsibility on to the

Labor State Government, and supports my ideas about opening up State Government land for parking,” she said.

“Cr Tozer has publicly been against any form of cableway, but we haven’t seen a proposal from anyone since 2001.

“So all of the angst about a potential cableway is based on a proposal that’s over 20 years old.”

Ms Bates told residents in her letter: “I have always said publicly that I was not a supporter of the previous cableway iteration of 2001 and that I would give consideration of a cableway if, and only if, it stacked up environmentally and economically.”

Cr Tate last month told the Bulletin he was still passionate about the cableway, which might be part of next week’s council budget deliberations.

He admitted the tourism project had lower priority now as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the budget.