Survey sought: Community support in Anglesea for Eden Project disputed

SOME Anglesea residents are continuing to take issue with the Eden Project’s claims of community support for its eco-tourism development in Anglesea and say an unreleased survey will prove Eden is not wanted in the town.
Announced in May 2019, the $150 million proposal from Eden Project International would occupy about 40 hectares of land in the now-closed Alcoa coal mine.
Community response to the Eden Project in Anglesea itself has been mixed from the start, as it arose from the similarly contentious Anglesea Futures framework produced by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to determine how the mine land would be used.
Part of the land in Anglesea Futures is earmarked for “eco and adventure-based tourism facilities and accommodation, to be a unique destination that respects the environment and contributes to the regional economy”.
Michael Collins, part of the Save Anglesea group on Facebook, said local interest in the Eden Project was sparked at the weekend by an interview with Eden Project co-founder Sir Tim Smit in a metropolitan Melbourne newspaper, in which Smit is described as saying “the overwhelming response (from people in Anglesea) to the idea was positive”.
Mr Collins disagrees, and says “there is a lack of community support for the project”.
The summary of responses to a survey carried out as part of Anglesea Futures contains comments both for and against the plan’s various elements, but some in the Anglesea community have been calling for years for all submissions to be published to fully show the level of local support (or not) for the plan.
DELWP has consistently refused to do so, saying the summary was “a true reflection of the range of feedback received from those who have participated in the process”.
Mr Collins said DELWP should also release the results of a second survey “which clearly said that wasn’t a land use that was preferred by the community but they pushed on anyway, and then decided that because it didn’t fit with their model, they wouldn’t release it to the community”.
He said his group had already obtained some information from its first Freedom of Information application and had a second FoI request under assessment.
The Eden Project has been trying for months to resolve issues regarding water and planning at the Anglesea site to allow it to move forward.
Eden Project International chief executive officer David Harland has given several updates on progress in Anglesea at Alcoa’s regular Community Consultation Network meetings, but these have not been held since February because of the coronavirus.
In Alcoa’s June community update, Mr Harland said “despite the lockdown, we have continued to work hard on Eden Project Anglesea and we are hoping for a resolution on the water body soon”.