One of the most exciting things the City of Launceston council plan to do this year is develop its cultural strategy. 

The council’s general manager Michael Stretton the strategy is one of the biggest and most influential things it is working on at the moment.

The strategy looks at the way the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Galley can evolve and how it could be the centre of the North’s creative culture and arts scene. 

“There is a real opportunity for us to grow arts and culture as an economic driver for the Northern region and that’s why we see the cultural strategy as being so important,” Mr Stretton said. 

After deferring its plan to pass building height limits late last year, the council will continue to work on that this year. 

The proposal to put maximum building heights of about 30 metres was taken off the table at one of the council’s October meetings because it was too close to an election, and because stakeholders wanted more consultation. 

“We want to explain the council’s position and work with stakeholders and then progress that through to the planning scheme. It will be a really big one for us in 2019,” Mr Stretton said. 

“We will open it up to stakeholders, but it wont be as full on engagement as we went through last time.”

Mr Stretton said there was no rush to get the regulations through the council. 

“The thing is,  with the two tall hotels that we’ve got coming to council at present, is that the building’s heights were never going to be able to be part of the planning scheme before the heights were determined. The two hotels will be developed under the current planning scheme,” he said.

As part of the Northern Economic Development Plan, the council is developing a population growth strategy. 

“Population growth is central to prosperity for the northern region,” Mr Stretton said. 

“We need to work with the state government and all stakeholders to attract people to come and work and live in the North of the state.” 

Mr Stretton said ideally attracting working aged families would be targeted by the strategy. 

The council is continuing to work on the Invermay Traffic Management Plan. 

The council had a workshop with the Department of State Growth late last year to understand the big picture. 

“We certainly, and intend, that it will be delivered. There will be more with the community once the council determines it,” Mr Stretton said. 

“Largely what we want is something that looks at the overall picture for Launceston rather than breaking it all up.”

In March, the Cataract Gorge will host about 400 tourism professionals from across the nation as part of the Australian Tourism Awards. 

For the first time, the normally sell out event, will be broadcast live.  

“It’s just really significant. Launceston has an opportunity to showcase itself to the rest of Australia,” Mr Stretton said. 

“It’s only the second time outside of a major city. The only other time that has happened was at Uluru. So it’s pretty significant.”

St John Street will be redeveloped as part of the City Heart Project.

“We’re close to being able to come to the public and talk about the complex issues of the bus stops and that will be a conversation for early in the new year,” Mr Stretton said.