At Tuesday’s council meeting, a motion called for the start of the process to become a city.

West Tamar councillors agreed the region was already doing great things without being labelled a city, and denied the proposal in a four to five vote. 

Councillor Peter Kearney, who put forward the motion, said becoming a city would be a “coming of age” for the region. 

“It would give us a seat at the table … it’s a way of saying that we want you to take us more seriously,” he said.

Councillor Tim Woinarski voted against the motion, but not because it was “silly”. 

“It’s just four to eight years too early … if we were to revisit it in four to six years as Riverside continues to expand and Legana grows, I’d be fully supportive of it,” Cr Woinarski said. 

He said while the region met the criteria on paper, it do not meet it in sociological sense. 

“If you have a look at the population density of the West Tamar per square kilometre it’s .33 [of a person] per square kilometre. Hobart has 125 per kilometre … Launceston 1.37. By population density alone, I don’t think we meet the criteria,” he said.  

Councillor Richard Ireland said he had done some community consultation and people asked him “what’s the point” and whether the council “had better things to do”.

“Developers will come here when it suits them, not when we become a city,” he said. “We already have very serious development because we have a great council, not because we have the title of a city … It’s a good idea for the future, not now.”

Councillor Lynden Ferguson said becoming a city was an important step, but said the community thought it was the wrong time.

“I urge council not to support this. We’ve just literally come off the back of merger talks with George Town Council,” he said.

Councillor Carol Bracken said becoming a city would improve how the area thought about itself.

“Becoming a city would showcase that we are a growing area,” she said. 

“It would force us to think a bit bigger and says that we are different to Launceston, and that we like that difference.”

Councillor Geoff Lyons said it was not a new idea and recalled Cr Kearney raising the idea about 20 years ago.

Cr Lyons believes the area will become a city in the future and supported finding out the community’s thoughts.

“We fit the criteria … There are smaller cities in the world,” he said.

Councillors Ireland, Woinarski, Ferguson, Holmdahl and Rick Shegog voted against the motion. Councillors Kearney, Bracken, Lyons and Joy Allen voted for it.