Controversy over $100m Tasmanian luxury resort

Submissions relating to a controversial $100 million development on the East Coast of Tasmania close in two days amid growing concerns about the fast-tracked 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 homestead near Swansea.

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

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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 Tasmanian Planning Commission before a development application is submitted to council.

Ronald Hu, the chief executive for Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Development, has talked up the development saying by attracting high-end visitors to stay in the area, the consortium would bring more business to existing Swansea operators.

A map showing the Cambria Green resort project planned for Dolphin Sands.

But not everyone is sold on the idea.

Swansea resident Dianne Smith told the Mercury the enormous scale of this masterplan is staggering.

“I am not against progress, but at what cost? 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 upgrade airstrip at Dolphin Sands, the heritage Cambria Homestead, just to mention a few,” she says.

Tasmanian Conservation Trust director Peter McGlone urges residents who have 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 says.

“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 the council general manager David Metcalf by email (admin@freycinet.tas.gov.au) or letter (PO Box 6, Triabunna, 7190)

This article from The Mercury originally appeared as “Cambria Green’s $100m proposal raises concerns as deadline for public comment approaches”.