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The council's environment and development services manager Tony Ferrier said he expected the number of submissions would exceed 200. "The last few days, we've been getting 30 or so a day," Mr Ferrier said. He said it was too early to say whether the majority of the submissions were for or against the development.
The submissions will be presented first to the Board of Environmental Management and Pollution Control and then to the Resource Planning and Development Commission which will make a ruling on whether or not the controversial development can proceed.
Tasmanian Conservation Trust spokesman Alistair Graham said he believed people concerned about the development would get a fairer hearing through the commission than they had from the council.
"The principal concern we've had through the whole sorry saga so far has been the refusal of the proponents to discuss the environmental impact of all the logging, harvesting and clearing that will be needed to deliver 750,000 tonnes of timber to the site each year," Mr Graham said.
'We're talking about land clearing that will degrade the Huon Valley and destroy World Heritage values associated with tall eucalypt forests, and degrade the habitat of not only threatened species, but of wildlife generally.
Citizens for Southwood chairman Alan Duggan said he had been encouraging members and others to put in submissions in favour of the development, which he says will bring jobs and prosperity to the region.
A special meeting of the Huon Valley Council will be held on February
13, during which the council will assess the public submissions and make
a recommendation to the commission.
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