A 100-METRE ‘‘wave wall’’ to create a beach within George Town’s York Cove is being proposed by prominent Northern developer Errol Stewart.
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Mr Stewart has submitted a proposal to the state government and George Town Council to consider a wave attenuator – floating concrete – in York Cove to help turn it into a safer and more protected tourism hot spot.
He said that over time sand had been lost from the cove during storm surge events and that such an apparatus would shield the bay and allow for sand to be pumped on to an embankment to form a beach ‘‘like Gold Coast Beach’’.
‘‘I think it would be a significant attraction to the region,’’ Mr Stewart said.
‘‘If you can prevent that from happening [sand being ripped out] with an attenuator all of a sudden you get a really safe bay, a great beach and just a real big attraction to George Town.
‘‘It just improves the economic outlook for George Town because it needs an attraction to get people going down there every day.
‘‘If you had a really great beach I think you would find that the whole of the esplanade would come alive, create development.’’
Mayor Bridge Archer said it was a positive initiative that tied in with the council’s plans for the York Cove area.
She said the proposal was raised with the Premier and cabinet ministers, who held a meeting at George Town on Thursday.
‘‘We will be looking at reclaiming the beach area in that cove as well ... to try and restore the cove to a usable recreational area,’’ she said.
Mr Stewart said Hobart engineers were assessing the implications of an attenuator to be handed to manufacturers for design.
He said once a cost benefit analysis was complete he would return to council with a cost estimate.
‘‘We have actually started selling some of our properties there [at York Cove] and we have had a pretty good run, we’ve sold eight apartments in the last three or four months and we have got nearly half a million dollars for them,’’ Mr Stewart said.
He said the money was being directed into his Launceston Silos Hotel development, with construction expected to start in November.