Support grows for Eden plan for Anglesea

THE Eden Project’s proposal for the former Anglesea coal mine is drawing supporters, with both Business and Tourism Anglesea (BATA) and Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism (GORRT) both supporting the eco-tourism project.

In a statement released last week, the committee of BATA said the Eden concept – revealed last month – would deliver many positives to Anglesea.

“We recognise that the Eden team and this project will deliver major additional local employment, as well as broader benefit to the local economy, in part, but not solely via their charter to obtain up to 80 per cent of all product locally.

“We applaud the Eden team’s willingness to collaboratively tackle the challenges that will arise with a project of this scope, with the team already thinking about important linkages with the main town of Anglesea, in a way that is environmentally sensitive, highly practical and supportive of businesses in town.”

GORRT chair Wayne Kayler-Thomson said GORRT’s strategic plan for the Great Ocean Road’s visitor economy identified that more than $1 billion in public and private investment was needed to develop a strong and sustainable tourism industry.

“The establishment of such an incredible attraction would be a huge step. It would encourage visitors to stay longer, spend more and travel across the entire region throughout the whole year. People from far and wide would come to see the Eden Project in Angelsea.”

The Eden Project recently ran several public meetings to share information about the proposal, including invitation-only events with Eden Project co-founder Sir Tim Smit on May 26 and May 30.

At the May 30 event, Sir Tim said the project would be unique – “We don’t want to build a theme park that could be anywhere” – and something that was embraced by the Anglesea community.

“We have no intentions of stepping on anyone’s toes whatsoever.”

Responding to a question about potential traffic impacts, Eden Project International chief executive officer David Harland said five to six million people already travelled along the Great Ocean Road “and that’s set to become 10 million, by some forecasts, pretty quickly”.

“At the moment, you have all of the disadvantages of tourism and none of the advantages.

“What we’re trying to do here is partly to slow people down and make them realise there’s stuff here, not just here but along the way, that they can engage with.”

For more information, head to edenprojectanglesea.com.au.