HELP THE EAST COAST ALLIANCE

Stop the SAP

The beautiful Tasmanian coastal community of Swansea and its irreplaceable natural environment is under threat from inappropriate and unsustainable development.

The East Coast Alliance is challenging the rezoning and changes to planning laws proposed in the Cambria Estate Draft Amendment, which includes the Specific Area Plan (SAP) and other planning scheme amendments. If approved, the SAP will override existing planning schemes and create over 3,100 hectares of quarantined development (that’s 31 square kilometres).

Is this the East Coast we want? Is this the Tasmania we want for future generations?

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Thank you to all who attended the ECA AGM on Saturday 31 August 2024

The 2024 AGM was a celebration!

The ECA and its supporters came together to celebrate the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s October 2023 rejection of the Cambria Green Draft Amendment and Specific Area Plan (details below). And to say thank you to Anne Held, who stepped down after 6 solid years as the President (and co-founder) of the East Coast Alliance. The role of President is now held by former ECA Vice-President Alcuin Hacker.

The AGM provided an update on the East Coast Alliance status and plans for the future, and discussed the Cambria proponents’ options for the future – it’s important to acknowledge the Cambria Green rezoning and development can still come back as a modified proposal in future.

We were delighted to welcome David Inches as our 2024 guest speaker. David appeared in the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) hearings as the ECA’s expert witness in response to Cambria Green’s Economic Analysis of their proposed tourism development. His in-depth evaluation and expert scrutiny of the development’s purported alignment with the Tasmanian tourism industry was critical in the TPC rejection of the Cambria Draft Amendment.

On 16 October 2023, the Tasmanian Planning Commission rejected the Cambria Estate Draft Amendment

At 3pm on 16 October 2023, the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) brought down a decision to reject the Cambria Draft Amendment. Read here the media release.

“The East Coast Alliance welcomes this decision by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission,” said Anne Held, President of the East Coast Alliance (ECA). “The planning amendment was lodged with Glamorgan Spring Bay Council by Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Management Pty Ltd over five years ago, in April 2018.

After such a long, drawn-out process, while we at the ECA are, of course, very pleased with this decision, we are also cautious about what might happen next,” said Anne. “We acknowledge this is possibly not the end of the road for this campaign.”

As stated in the TPC decision:

The full TPC decision can be found here.

470. In summary, the Commission finds that the draft amendment:

·       is not in accordance with section 32(4)(a) or (b);

·       does not further objectives set out in Schedule 1;

·       is not consistent with the relevant parts of the State Policy on the Protection of Agricultural Land 2009, the State Coastal Policy 1996 and the State Policy on Water Quality Management 1997;

·       is not, as far as practicable, consistent with the Southern Tasmania Regional Land Use Strategy 2010-2035.

471. The Commission rejects the draft amendment.

472. Having considered the alternative draft amendment, the reasons for rejecting the draft amendment apply equally to consideration of the alternative draft amendment. While lessening the impacts of the uses and potential developments that were proposed, the Commission is not satisfied that the alternative draft amendment addresses the fundamental zoning considerations or meets the criteria for the establishment of a SAP.

Visit the About the SAP page and scroll to the end for an overview of what’s happened to date. Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or need further information.

Major Projects Bill passed

The contentious Major Projects Bill (Land use Planning and Approvals Amendment (Major Projects) Bill 2020) passed on 24 September 2020.  The Department of Justice confirmed 1,755 people made submissions - 98% of those submissions opposed the Bill, with less than 1% in support. Read more here.

Regardless of the outcome of the current Supreme Court appeal, with the passing of the Bill Cambria Green could be declared a Major Project, bypassing ordinary council planning processes and taking the application out of the planning system altogether, with minimal opportunity for the public to comment and no rights of appeal.