Media release – Tasmanian Conservation Trust, 27 May 2021
TCT shows the true visual impact of the cable car – the truth the proponent has hidden
The Tasmanian Conservation Trust has opened its online guide for those wanting to make a representation on the Mt Wellington Cable Car proposal.
TCT CEO Peter McGlone said “The TCT is most concerned about the visual impacts the cable car will have on Mt Wellington. In particular we are horrified that the proponent wants to build a giant 3,100m2 complex on the pinnacle (15 times longer than the existing viewing platform) along with a 35 metre high pylon on top of the Organ Pipes.
“To our great surprise the proponent has failed to produce a visual representation of the 35m pylon above the Organ Pipes, as viewed from near the pinnacle.
“TCT has been compelled to do one of our own. The image shows the experience awaiting locals and tourists from near the top of kunanyi / Mt Wellington.
“It is disappointing that the proponent has produced visual representations showing the Organ Pipes pylon from a great distance but not how it looks up close.
“We hope this helps people understand the full visual impact of the cable car and encourages people to make a representation. Reducing visual impact is a key component of the management plan.”
The TCT has created an online form to assist people to easily sift through the more than 1000 page development application, 283 page management plan and Hobart Interim Planning Scheme. We want people to make a representation to the Hobart City Council about the Mount Wellington Cable Car project.
The representation period closes on 22 June 2021, at 11.59pm. Representations can be made via the TCT web-site at: https://www.tasconservation.org.au/kunanyi-mt-wellington-cable-car
The TCT has summarised key concerns about the cable car and referenced the relevant provisions of the Wellington Park Management Plan and Hobart Interim Planning Scheme. We encourage people to make their own personal comments.
Key issues in the representation guide are: visual impact, cable car is not nature-based tourism, impacts on Tasmanian Aboriginal community, waste, native vegetation and threatened species, noise, drilling works and impacts from an additional 200,000 vehicle movements through South Hobart.
peter quealy
May 29, 2021 at 19:18
I think the cable car would be a good thing.
Anything that may take some cars off the road going up Kunanyi would please me, and more importantly it would probably please the mother bandicoots who have seen their children being run over by cars for years. I don’t think the bandicoots, wallabies, or any of the other critters that live on Kunanyi would be at all concerned about the visual impact of the chairlift as that’s more of a neat and tidy middle class human concern.
The chairlift would offer professional and tradespeople, and the unqualified, some wonderful jobs. I am hoping that the Cable Car Company will support the important issues that face our Island, among them dealing with Big Stinking Industrial Salmon and the protection of our ancient forests.
It is after all in the cable car’s interest for Tassie to be wild, clean and green, something which is not possible while Salmon excrement destroys our waters, and bulldozers slaughter our (and the critters’) ancient forests.
Chief Editor TT
June 2, 2021 at 16:04
Regardless of anyone’s opinion for or against, it simply is not correct to term it a ‘chairlift’.
The cabins will be the size of a two buses side by side, and will carry 80 passengers at a time.
Karl Rollings
June 9, 2021 at 12:50
This proposal would be the biggest mistake Tasmania has made since the flooding of Lake Pedder.
Lewis Edward Garnham
June 11, 2021 at 00:21
Please study the DA plans and see the incompleteness of the design.
FLAWED and FLOORLESS
After reviewing DA plans, flawed and floorless best describes the replacement 24/7 rooftop MWCC ‘indoor lookout’ structure. The lookout area is at the back of the glassed building. To the front are the city views and an approx. 91 sq.m void containing two lifts and stairwell opening into the ‘indoor lookout’ area (foyer), hence to the rooftop access airlock.
The other end foyer floor is partitioned off due to the low sloping garden roof. Apart from the lift wells, glassed stairwell partitions and door, the sloping glassed stairwell roof further distorts any distant views.
From DA scaling, the accessible foyer/indoor lookout area is approx. 52.4 sq.m and NOT 76 sq.m as written, even including an 11.5 sq.m airlock! Car park access to their ‘lookout’ is either by approx. 35 landscaped descending, potentially hazardous stone steps, and the long undetermined serpentine ramp entering the crowded commercial café labyrinth, or maybe the toilet-less rooftop.
The present Observation Shelter has a floor area of about 100 sq.m with about 80 sq.m glassed on three viewing sides. It is only approx. 5.7m in height, easily accessible with a short walk from the road in most weather conditions by the aged and handicapped. It must not be destroyed but kept for the general public non-commercial use.
It is not ugly, compared to the proposed rusty steel facades and prominent 36 m pinnacle cable car tower 3, with 6 wires and bulky terminal apparatus and suspiciously absent on most MWCCC drawings.