Rosalie Woodruff MP | Member for Franklin
Chambroad Petrochemicals’ announcement it is abandoning plans for a hospitality school, the only aspect of the plan that purported to be in the public interest, is not surprising.
The school plan was a key argument for the company securing prime public foreshore at Kangaroo Bay. Locals feared, from the beginning, it was simply a front in the land grab for a waterfront hotel and apartments.
We urge Clarence City Council to return to the drawing board and give locals the say they should have had in the first place about the appropriate future development of Kangaroo Bay.
The public consultation period for Chambroad’s initial development plan was a box-ticking consultation exercise, widely criticised for being held over the Christmas break and then ignored. Residents should have had a real say in such a significant development.
Residents have been collectively supportive of development at this waterfront site, but always opposed Council and the proponent for failing to adhere to the Kangaroo Bay Development Plan 2010. That community-consulted Plan limits building heights to two stories unless common view lines can be preserved, and enshrines continuous high quality public open space and pedestrian connections to the Boulevard.
The majority of councillors on Clarence City Council dismissed the Kangaroo Bay community and treated their valid concerns with contempt.
Councillors are public officers, and this site is public land. Any new plans for this prime Kangaroo Bay site should first serve the people of Clarence. Council must give them their say – and then listen to what they’ve been told.
If Chambroad are to resubmit a development application, they should commence with a clean slate and abide by the Tasmanian Planning Commission-approved 2010 Kangaroo Bay Development Plan.