11 February 2014

Circular Head Mayor Daryl Quilliam said today’s announcement of the State Government’s formal approval for the Van Diemen's Land Company’s revised plans for dairy farm development were a vote of confidence in the dairy sector.

“This is a welcome announcement and will be of huge benefit to the Circular Head community,” Mayor Quilliam said.

“Our region is fast gaining the reputation for being the dairy capital, with the right combination of the right climate, soils and farming skills to be a reliable and sustainable producer of milk.”

Mayor Quilliam said Council had always supported the development and welcomed the extra jobs and income.

“With Van Diemen's Land Company’s socioeconomic report showing that this farm expansion will create a further $100.6 million of value adding and support for some 525 jobs throughout our community by 2020, we really have something to look forward to,” Mayor Quilliam said.

“This coupled with the fact that the company has made a voluntary commitment to protect native habitats on Woolnorth and protection measures for devils shows that this project has a very good balance between protecting the environment and development.”

Mayor Quilliam said the announcement further demonstrated Council’s commitment to power and related infrastructure upgrades on Harcus River Road was a wise investment.

“With $1.5 million granted towards this project from the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement, Harcus River Road’s 23 kilometres of power lines will go a long way to ensuring the area is ready for the future expansion of dairies in the area,” Mayor Quilliam said.

“In line with this objective Council is still in the process of assessing concept plans for future improvements on this road in line with the budget process.”

The Circular Head Council will continue to work closely with the company to assist with other aspects of building and construction approval of the farms when these are brought forward for approval.

“We now urge people to understand how long and detailed this assessment process by the State Government has been and to accept the independent statutory assessments that have been made,” Mayor Quilliam said.