Cairns council rejects East Trinity project

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE -- North Queensland conservationists have welcomed a decision by the Cairns City Council to reject a plan to create a $1.5 billion satellite suburb south-east of the city.

The council voted down the East Trinity plan on November 11 by 10 votes to 2 in a decision environmental groups described as a great environmental victory.

Cairns and Far North Environmental Centre spokesperson Sean Purcell said on November 11 that Cairns' famous Trinity Inlet was already in grave danger. "This development would have seen 20,000 to 25,000 people living on site and 2000 tourists a night", Purcell said.

"It would have needed 14 million cubic metres of fill, raising the whole area 3.7 metres. It posed every danger evident in [developer Keith Williams'] Port Hinchinbrook resort, including its effect on the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef."

However, the seven-year-long battle over East Trinity seems likely to continue after the developers, English bankers NatWest Markets, labelled the council decision "highly appealable".

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