Labor has announced plans to team up with Brighton Council on a $1 billion urban renewal project that would deliver 800 new homes and apartments in Bridgewater.
The ambitious development, which Labor says will exceed the investment of the Bridgewater Bridge project, forms a key part of opposition leader Dean Winter’s housing strategy ahead of the upcoming state election.
Winter said a Labor government would set up a new government business enterprise RenewTas to drive the project.
An initial commitment of $150,000 in matched funding would support the development of a master plan.
The plan also includes $250,000 for designing new public transport infrastructure, including a ferry terminal, park-and-ride facility and bus interchange.
“Our support for this project is all about bringing the dream of homeownership back into reality for young Tasmanians,” Winter said.
Labor would also back applications to the federal government’s urban precincts and partnerships program, which could unlock up to $50 million in federal funding for essential infrastructure.
Brighton Mayor Leigh Gray described the initiative as a “generational opportunity” for the region.
“The new bridge and associated roads have reconnected east and west Bridgewater, opened up the foreshore and created a ready-made future commercial strip on Old Main Road,” Gray said.
“It is not often we get the opportunity in Tasmania to undertake an integrated design for a whole precinct of this scale, ensuring open space, commercial land, various living styles and densities and public transport nodes are all designed in from the beginning.”
Gray said much of the groundwork had already been done, with the site sitting within the existing urban growth boundary.
Winter argued young Tasmanians had been “shut out of the housing market” under the Liberals and described the project as a chance to create “a thriving suburb for young Tasmanians”.
“To fix the housing crisis and keep young people in the state, a Labor government I lead will do things differently,” he said.
