Plans for Australia's longest zip-line in Blue Mountains' Gardens of Stone scrapped after community outcry
Plans for an adventure park in the Gardens of Stone have been dropped. (Supplied: NSW Government)
Plans to build an adventure park with the country's longest zip-line in a protected area of the NSW Blue Mountains have been scrapped after community opposition.
Key points:
- The project planned for the Gardens of Stone Conservation Area (SCA) has been scrapped
- The NSW Environment Minister says community opposition to the plan was clear
- Government will forge ahead with a lease to build eco cabins in the SCA
The previous NSW Coalition government wanted to see the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area (SCA) become home to the Lost City Adventure Precinct.
It was hailed as the "centrepiece" of a $50 million project to turn the SCA into an ecotourism venture, in the hopes of attracting more visitors to the region each year.
The project included plans to build the state's first via ferrata route — with fixed protections like metal pegs and cables to aid climbers' safe movement around cliffs and mountains — as well as the development of other rock climbing areas, zip-lines, "spectacular" suspension bridges and canyoning.
But the NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe said the community was clear in its opposition.
"There was a lot of concern about the impact on the park," she said.
The planned zipline was billed to be the longest in Australia. (Supplied: Henry Gold)
"There's a real desire to make this area an absolutely fantastic place for families, and for people to use … the environment [in a way] that really celebrates the pagodas."
Bushwalking NSW executive officer Kirsten Mayer said she was worried the activities would damage the area's rock formations.
"We are delighted," she said.
"Our national parks are absolutely magnificent in their own right — they don't need a theme park to make them appealing."
'Low-impact' eco-cabins to be built
Although plans for the adventure park have been dropped, the government is forging ahead with a lease to build eco-cabins at the site.
The "low impact" shelters would be put up along a six-day walk, which is yet to be constructed.
But Ms Mayer said she believed the plan would exclude parts of the community.
"We don't want [eco-cabins] in national parks because national parks are for everyone, and putting a private lodge … is effectively selling off our public assets," she said.
But Minister Sharpe said she believed it would do the opposite, making the area attractive to people who do not want to camp.
"I think this … will build a genuinely fantastic place that people will want to come and visit and bring their friends and family and enjoy into the future."