Cricket Tas to swing again at arena plan

CRICKET Tasmania remains confident it will gain an extension on the use of the Blundstone Arena lights despite having its first attempt rejected by the Clarence City Council.

Chief executive Nick Cummins said Cricket Tasmania was gearing up for another attempt in October.

Mr Cummins said the organisation was primarily aiming at aggregating four separate permits with contradictory conditions into one, while extending the lighting of the ground by an extra hour and changing the positioning of the decibel reading.

“We are confident, the council have showed they are reasonable and open to negotiation,” Mr Cummins said.

“This is something we won’t be able to achieve in isolation, this is part of the council and listening to the concerns of res- idents but ultimately we are optimistic that we will be able to find a compromise that leaves all parties satisfied.”

Council aldermen unanimously rejected the proposal at a meeting on Monday night.

Clarence Mayor Doug Chipman said the council was concerned about the hours of operation, external lighting and noise emissions and felt Cricket Tasmania did not provide enough evidence to justify an amendment to the planning scheme.

Cummins said: “There are certain people in the community who won’t be satisfied unless the stadium is returned to being an oval with a picket fence around it. It is very hard to placate them because our existence and their desires are poles apart.

“The reality is we generate hundreds of thousands of dollars of rates for the Clarence Council so we are an important contributor to the local economy but also as one of the major employees in the municipality.

“We had nearly 100,000 people come through the venue in the past 12-month period, so that is a significant part of the community in terms of economic investment and stimulation so it is venue of state significance.”