Administrative Appeal hearing commences into proposal for cable car at Hobart's Mt Wellington

An appeal against the City of Hobart’s rejection of a private-sector operator’s plans to develop a cable car running to the top of the city’s Mount Wellington has commenced at Tasmania's Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TasCAT).

Last year the council rejected the proposal by the Mount Wellington Cableway Company (MWCC) on 21 grounds - with opponents of the scheme adding a further nine grounds.

However, persevering with its plans for the development on land it neither owns or currently has a lease for, MWCC has submitted updated plans to Tasmania's planning tribunal to reduce the size of the mountaintop infrastructure and halve the number of passengers in each car from 80 to 40.

Starting this week, the TasCAT hearing, which is expected to last tree weeks, marks the latest in the long-running dispute between those who wish to see a cable car taking tourists to the top of the mountain that overlooks Hobart, and those who oppose it - an ongoing issue saga that has played out since the idea was first proposed more than a century.

In his opening address, counsel acting for MWCC, Adrian Galasso SC, said visual impact was "the largest and most emotional" aspect of opposition to the proposal, given it covered eight grounds of the appeal.

Galasso then stated “this is not a proposal that in any way attempts to camouflage itself, or be invisible from being able to be observed.

"From the very fact that you'll be in a cable car ascending the mount, being able to see Hobart and larger areas on your way up, being able to appreciate the Organ Pipes on your way up, and being able to appreciate aspects of Wellington Park on your way up.

"If you can see something, it can see you. It will be visible."

The MWCC proposal includes a base station and departure point at McRobies Road in South Hobart with 52 parking spaces for cars as well as bus parking, two towers lower on the mountain and a third closer to the summit.

MWCC believes changes to the proposed pinnacle centre would place it below the ridge line of the mountain, as opposed to the existing structure which would mostly be removed.

However, MWCC must overcome objections of the cable car’s impact on two ‘geo-heritage’ - rock sites deemed to be of significance - of which includes the Organ Pipes, noise concerns at the base station, and destruction of identified swift parrot and masked owl habitat.

City of Hobart counsel Jordan Wright questioned how MWCC planned to offset the loss of swift parrot breeding and foraging trees for the construction of the base station, noting the plans did not outline how the five-to-one ratio for 100 new blue gum trees would be achieved.

Andrew North, who provided ecological advice to MWCC, agreed that offsets had not been specifically identified in the plans, but that this was "quite normal" for this kind of development.

Offsets could be avoided if the project meets "special circumstances", such as a significant long-term social and economic benefit to the community, and there is no feasible alternative location for the project.

Regardless of the outcome of the expected three weeks of hearings, the TasCAT decision may well be appealed by either party to Tasmania’s Supreme Court by either party.

Images: MWCC's 2018 concept for the Mount Wellington cable car (top, credit: MWCC) and Mount Wellington (below).