One of the main criticisms of the University of Tasmania’s move to Inveresk was how the influx of traffic would cope with current infrastructure.

When hotels have been mooted in recent months, the question has also been around parking spaces.

The co-located hospital pitch at the Launceston General Hospital was instantly dismissed by many because the unsolicited proposal could use part of the car park.

Focusing just on one potential problem can mean you miss the bigger picture.

The UTAS move will be fantastic for our region.  It will boost our population, connect higher education with the city and offer a physical presence about education and career pathways.

A co-located hospital can strengthen health services in the North and Tasmania. 

Hotels and other developments offer business confidence, boost the economy and employ locals.

Perhaps the lack of believed planning or communication around development has created this attitude when discussing change.

The Inveresk traffic master plan is long overdue.  Thankfully, despite the length of time to get action, it appears the plan is exactly what we need to accommodate current and future traffic issues.

With the development of North Bank it was clear traffic would become an issue. Yet it appeared that nothing was actioned to correct an obvious problem.  Perhaps there were plans and this is the result that we are seeing now.  After all we were often told that there were studies happening about traffic at Inveresk.

Communication could have been the issue in terms of releasing limited information until the designs and plans were right for the area. Patience to ensure all the known boxes are ticked before releasing the plan to the public.

However the North Bank development didn’t happen overnight. It was always known traffic would have been an issue in the future. 

With this in mind, we want the council to produce plans that make sense – to future-proof our region and give us opportunities for further development and innovation.

We also want it within a good time frame. In this instance, it was overdue, but the plan was worth the wait.