UTAS Inveresk site
TASMANIAN residents are crying out for adequate hospital facilities, mainly due to inadequate funds for beds and staff. Another problem is excessive ramping of ambulances causing distress, or possible death, to patients.
However, we are to spend an unknown amount, presently $300 million, in moving UTAS from Newnham to a flood plain.
Large infrastructure projects often run up to double the estimated cost.
The Newnham site is ideal - close to Launceston, a top-rated private school thriving as its neighbour and UTAS is expanding the Maritime college on the site.
Costings which show upgrading any Newnham building shortcomings are greater than constructing a new university campus is ludicrous.
This flood area is protected by many kilometres of flood levees, sitting on permeable silt foundations. Regular floods will be magnified by predicted sea level rises.
Major floods occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, with disastrous results for Inveresk. It is easy to underestimate the fury of these floods. The 1929 floods were estimated to have taken 25 lives.
Launceston City Council moved the trams from the tramsheds on the Inveresk site to a safe, dry place on Wellington Street after the trams were damaged in the 1929 flood.
In line with protecting the community, and using knowledge gained in the 1929 flood, new small residential buildings are not permitted by the then LCC, to protect the safety of the inhabitants.
Learned Launceston city fathers planned the CBD to be constructed between Forster Street and the North Esk, thus the wide streets in that area.
They soon realised the folly of using that area and moved the CBD to higher dry ground, adjacent to the town hall.
Promotion of the Inveresk site has many supporters, who have enthusiastically supported the plan current in their time, only to find them replaced by a new plan.
These discarded plans include the main pompadour building on the old bike track, large circular car park halved for grass and trees, parking in the northern part of the showground, then Gleadow Street or on the Lindsay Street flood levee and a campus, a shadow of that originally promised.
The tall accommodation buildings constructed are out of favour and a new plan to construct 10 small accommodation units on each side of the river is the present aim, along with a 500-place car park in the adjacent floodplain on Glebe Farm.
I apologise if I have missed some deleted plans. What next?
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