Need for Spit plan
GOLD Coasters are able at last to see for themselves what the city council, led by Mayor Tom Tate, is proposing in a bid to build a cruise ship terminal on The Spit.
In viewing the city’s proposal submitted to the Department of Environment and Energy, it is apparent what is proposed is an escalation on what the Gold Coast thought would be the case when a terminal was first touted for the Seaway.
Cruise industry insiders have always said that for a city to maximise the benefits, it has to move from being a brief port of call to a base port, which means – as the city submission to Canberra states – a terminal can be used for “resupply and refuelling’’.
The submission points to a plan that capitalises on the city’s popularity as a destination and indicates how it might pay for itself and boost the local economy.
It endeavours to explain how a terminal would have minimal environmental impact and how, with its massive 1200m jetty structure, wharf and 800m breakwater, it would be sited close to areas already used for tourism facilities and carparks.
It reveals how close the jetty is to the historic Scottish Prince shipwreck.
But it is guarded in detailing how resupply and refuelling would work. There is a suggestion fuel barges could make their way down the Broadwater, but residents will want to know whether fuel would then be stored in tanks on The Spit or elsewhere, and piped to potentially 150 ships a year, or pumped directly from barges.
One thing that is obvious in considering this is the huge need for a masterplan covering The Spit and Broadwater.
Every time a major project is floated, there are cries of joy or howls of outrage.
Everyone – not just the council or developers – needs clarity on what can or cannot happen there.
The city’s submission reveals a project of massive proportions, so big in fact that it will be seen from many kilometres away and perhaps even from space.
A masterplan would defuse the inevitable row that will blow up yet again now that the council has played this hand.