The former Bass MHA and Cricket North administrator has released a draft concept plan for the silt ponds lining the western banks of the Tamar River.

The plan includes multiple sporting fields, basketball and netball courts, parking facilities, clubrooms and restaurants as well as extensions to cycling and walking tracks linking the Tamar Rowing Club and Legana.

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Fry, who hopes the plan will garner interest from the City of Launceston and West Tamar councils, said the proposed changes would both beautify a "neglected" area and provide a hub for junior sport.

"I've been lobbying the council for a number of years to convert those silt ponds on the western bank of the Tamar," Fry said.

"At the time obviously working full-time for cricket I was keen to see some additional cricket grounds installed, but with most grounds being multi-purpose these days they could be used for cricket, soccer football and also adding in some netball and basketball courts as well.

"It's an ideal opportunity to provide some extended infrastructure work around the area and it's sadly needed - we live in a beautiful city and I believe this is a bit of a blight on our city and it needs to be properly looked at and developed."

The West Tamar fitness track that connects the rowing club with Tailrace is popular with runners and riders alike.

The track, which loops around both sides of the silt ponds, would instead loop around the new precinct under Fry's plan before linking up with existing trails into Legana.

Fry conceded the plan would take plenty of financial backing, but said Launceston would be better off for it.

"There's a fair bit of environmental work that'd need to be done on this site," Fry said.

"It'd need to be capped and sealed to make sure there's no leaching of any heavy metals from the silt and that's perfectly feasible - I've checked with a couple of engineers and that could be done.

"As far as the cost is concerned, we'd obviously be needing to look at involving both state and federal governments for funding to do that sort of thing."

Images of the plan, which has the support of several cycling groups, can be found on The Examiner's website.