Plans to re-build a tourist information centre at Echo Point has raised alarm bells for the Blue Mountains Conservation Society.
The current visitor centre will be knocked down and rebuilt this year at a cost of $3 million. The project – jointly funded between Blue Mountains Council and the Federal Government – has already drawn the ire of some Katoomba businesses who believe a new visitor centre should be in the CBD, instead of at that iconic lookout.
Now the Conservation Society has revealed it has also criticised the plans in a detailed submission during the public exhibition of the project last month.
Society president Madi Maclean said the review of environmental factors by council “makes no assessment of the impact ... on the quality of views from within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area”.
“This is a major oversight,” she said. “The Society believes that the impacts on the scenic and aesthetic values from within the world heritage area need to be urgently assessed.”
“Any re-development needs to be undertaken sensitively and with extreme caution”, said Ms Maclean. “The site has significant environmental values being directly adjacent to the Blue Mountains National Park and the Three Sisters Aboriginal Place. The site is also within Sydney’s drinking water catchment; is in an area of high bushfire risk and adjoins areas harbouring significant flora, fauna and their habitats.”
But a Blue Mountains City Council spokeswoman said all matters raised by the Conservation Society, including visual impact, had already been carefully considered in the development proposal.
“The views to the Three Sisters or Jamison Valley will not be impeded,” she said. “The building will be set well back from the escarpment on an elevated platform … the new one-storey building has a lower profile in the landscape than the existing building.”
The spokeswoman said council was still exploring options for service close to Katoomba station but added that “the award winning Echo Point Visitor Information Centre [VIC], with about 600,000 visitors per year, is one of the rare VICs which operates at a profit”.
Ms Maclean said the bushfire building standard at the site was being downgraded by council. The site of the existing centre has been assessed as ‘Flame Zone’, the highest Bushfire Attack Level (BAL), but the bushfire assessment commissioned by council has proposed a lesser BAL 40 building standard be applied to the proposed new building because measures, including preparation of an evacuation plan and an increased water supply, will be implemented.
Any re-development of the site needs to be undertaken sensitively and with extreme caution
- Madi Maclean Blue Mountains Conservation Society
Ms Maclean said that was not acceptable.
“The Society believe given the high bushfire risk of the site, the additional measures being applied are not sufficient justification not to apply the relevant … [Rural Fire Service] standards … the Society does not believe a new building should be built with far less than optimal fire protection measures in place.”
The new centre will include interactive information displays, an outdoor amphitheatre and extended concrete viewing platform. Council has also proposed a 10 metre wide bushfire Asset Protection Zone and reinstatement of the currently closed walking track to the Prince of Wales lookout.
Ms Maclean said the establishment of an APZ within a national park – a public nature conservation area – was not consistent with management principles of a national park, and may not be legally permissible under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.
The original visitor centre was built in the 1980s but refurbished in 1993 and again in 2002.
The council spokeswoman said council “continues to liaise with the Rural Fire Service regarding the bushfire assessment of the new facility” and it “is conditional on RFS advice to ensure it conforms to standard”. Council plans to meet with Conservation Society representatives this week to address their concerns.
