Latrobe council overrules its own planner on Eagle Point oyster ramp

Latrobe councillors voted 7-2 at their October 26 meeting against a planning officer’s advice to approve an oyster grower’s bid to put a boat launch and retrieval spot on the foreshore at Eagle Point Beach in Bakers Beach, on Tasmania’s north-west coast.

Why it matters

The council’s planner had advised approving the application from Shearwater Oyster Supply, with conditions, The Advocate reported. Only the outgoing mayor, Peter Freshney, and Cr David Fidler supported that course. The refusal motion came from deputy mayor Vonette Mead, who has since been confirmed as the new mayor, and carried with Freshney and Fidler the only votes against.

A council that sets aside its own expert advice takes on appeal risk. The Advocate notes that such councils can lose at the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT), and ratepayers pay for it.

Bakers Beach residents had opposed the proposal. Resident Ken Smith said five families live beside the foreshore where the ramp is proposed, and that plenty of people visit the area to kayak, so it is more recreational than commercial. He argued the site was unsuitable for equipment of that size. In his view an existing boat ramp at Eagle Point, and a well-built one at Port Sorell, offered options that would leave the fragile foreshore undisturbed. Residents, he said, have no quarrel with oyster farming itself, only with moving it onto the foreshore when a ramp already exists at the point.

The numbers

Seven of the nine elected members sided against the planner. Freshney and Fidler were the two in favour of approval. Smith put the number of families living by the affected foreshore at five. According to the report the oyster business has worked in the area for decades, though Smith said it began using this particular spot only in recent months.

What’s next

Whether Shearwater Oyster Supply will go to TASCAT is unclear. The company’s planning consultant, Rohan Willis, told The Advocate: “We’re weighing up our options.” Smith said residents were delighted with the result but a little worried about a possible appeal.

An appeal would test the council’s decision to override its own planner directly, a kind of dispute also seen in a Tamar Valley data centre fight now before the tribunal. For now the application stands refused.

The Australian Developer