Fresh retirement village push

A prominent farming family behind a large-scale retirement village on the East Coast is pushing ahead with the project despite the Tasmanian Planning Commission's rejection.

Tempus Village is a proposed 170-unit retirement village, which includes a 44-bed nursing home, that is being planned to be built on Kelvedon Estate, a vineyard and sheep farm owned by the Cotton family.

The Tasmanian Planning Commission rejected the proposal in February 2022, despite the development application having earlier been approved by the Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council.

The commission said at the time the proposal “is not, as far as practicable, consistent with the regional strategy’s policies for productive resources or settlement and residential development”, and was not prepared per state policies on coastal and agricultural land.

But Jack Cotton said that he and the other proponents of Tempus Village had not given up on the project.

“It’s still on the drawing board; it’s not over yet. Hopefully it’ll get up, because it’s a really good spot for it,” Mr Cotton said.

“It’s beautiful, and for anyone retiring, you couldn’t ask for a better spot for the panoramic views of the bay.

“It’s best use for the ground like that because it’s really stony and it’s 18 hectares, and it probably only carried 50 sheep, so it’s no great loss.”

Anna Cotton said the positives of Tempus Village were vast.

“It makes sense to forgo 50 sheep for a lifelong benefit to the Swansea community,” Ms Cotton said.

“They’ll have a recreational centre with a swimming pool and things like that, where Swansea currently don’t have a swimming pool.

“So the primary school rely on the goodwill of locals to use their swimming pools for learn to swim and things like that.

“The flow-on effects and the benefits it will have to the Swansea community will be fantastic.”

Mr Cotton said he was shocked when the development was rejected, stating that “for a project that was so good to be knocked back was very disappointing.”

At the time of the Tasmanian Planning Commission’s decision, Tempus Village managing director Les Walden said it was a devastating blow.

“We are dismayed and shocked that the 3-member panel of the Tasmanian Planning Commission ignored the advice and recommendation of the Council as a planning authority, and ignored our independent experts,” Mr Walden said.

“Most of all, the majority of the community wanted this project to happen, and we have a database of people from the area and beyond who were looking forward to living in this rural retirement concept, who will be absolutely devastated, as we are.

Mr Cotton hoped Tempus Village would get up “hopefully within the next three years.”