About 24 different trails will be built at Mount George with each one having a different level of difficulty. Trails will cater for beginners through to advanced riders.

The longest trail, set to be called Blue Square, would be about eight kilometres-long.

The draft plans, which show the project would cost more than $4.4 million, have been designed by Dirt Art who specialise in building bike trails. 

About 10 full-time jobs would be created during the construction phase, with more than 40,000 annual visitors predicted. This would create an annual $5.3 million direct economic impact. 

George Town Council released the draft plans on Saturday ahead of a public meeting.

“The diverse network of trails provides a very different experience to other surrounding area trails such as Blue Derby, and compliments the broader offering of mountain bike destinations both current and under development in Tasmania,” The draft concept plans said.

“The design process commenced with concept design. Concept designs were based on desktop mapping, and limited on ground exploration. Dirt Art used concept mapping data to guide the detailed design process in the field.”

The on-site design process involved four staff undertaking “extensive” exploration of the site to determine the optimal trail locations. 

Trail alignments were chosen based on their ease of construction, and on the quality of trail experience proposed. 

A majority of the trails will be located on the north-east aspect, to provide a drier forest ground to ensure year-round riding is available. 

The complete network design includes property managed by the council, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, and Bell Bay Aluminium. The draft plan says all land owners and managers are presently “broadly supportive” of the project. 

Dirt Art said the trails provided a number of different staging opportunities, or the entire 84km could be developed as a single project stage. 

“This larger implementation stage would be sure to attract significant attention, as one of the largest single-stage mountain bike projects ever developed in Australia,” it said. 

The public meeting will be held at the George Town Memorial Hall on Thursday, February 7 from 6pm. 

Findings from the feasibility study and the first draft of the plans will be presented at the forum. The council said it was a great opportunity for the council to gain insight into the proposal. More information can be found on the council’s website.