The Clarence City Council has given the green light for a planning application to proceed for a new ferry terminal at Lindisfarne, clearing the first hurdle in what is expected to be a lengthy approvals process.
Councillors voted on Monday night to grant landowner consent for the terminal at the southern end of Natone Street on Hobart’s eastern shore.
The decision allows the Hobart City Council to lodge a combined planning scheme amendment and development application for the site.
The Lindisfarne stop is the next stage in the River Derwent ferry expansion, following the success of the Bellerive service.
Future terminals are also planned for Wilkinsons Point and Sandy Bay.
The proposal includes an 81-square-metre waiting building, a covered deck, an 88-square-metre gateway building with bike storage, accessible toilets and a hydraulic gangway.
Charging infrastructure for future electric ferries is also included in the design.
However, there is no nearby bus stop at the terminal and little justification for accommodating bus turning movements at the site.
Councillor Daniel Hulme said the state government’s refusal to allow park-and-ride options at the ferry terminal needed to be matched by better transport links.
“If they’re not going to do that, then they need to accept the fact that people are going to drive to these sites,” Hulme said.
“Because the nature of people is if they can’t access those other forms of transport, they will drive.”
Councillor Tony Mulder supported the consent but warned the terminal would struggle without buses on its doorstep
“This is like suggesting that the Manly Ferry Terminal could operate without a bus service,” Mulder said.
Councillors Beth Warren and Richard James voted against granting landowner consent.
Warren said Geilston Bay would be a better location, while James described the Natone Street site as exposed and unsuitable.
Deputy Mayor Allison Ritchie said the vote was a threshold decision, not an endorsement of the design.
Mayor Brendan Blomeley said community consultation two years ago had made the preferred location clear.
“We engaged extensively with our community … they said to us that Natone Street was where the ferry terminal ought to be,” Blomeley said.
