The plan to build an adult prison in the northern Tasmanian town of Westbury has been ditched, with the Ashley Youth Detention Centre site instead identified as the preferred option.
Attorney-General Elise Archer announced in parliament on Thursday that the Deloraine site was the only location being considered for a correctional facility in the state's north, and that all work on the Westbury site had come to a halt.
The state government will now start "due diligence" on transforming the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, which is set to close by late 2024, and be replaced by two smaller facilities at either end of the state.
"My department conducted preliminary investigations of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre site, which indicated the site appears to be well-suited as a location for a modern ,fit-for-purpose correctional facility in northern Tasmania, with a custodial facility a permitted use within the current zoning for the site," she said.
Ms Archer said public feedback on locating the prison at the Ashley site was "encouraging", despite there being some concern from locals about the Meander Valley being home to a correction facility.
Ms Archer said the new northern prison would primarily house offenders who had been sentenced, but also include a remand centre for people awaiting trial.
Two separate sites in Westbury have been proposed to house a northern prison, with the first scrapped two years ago and another preferred location, in the Brushy Creek Conservation Area, announced.
Meander Valley Mayor Wayne Johnston said abandoning both those plans, and considering Ashley as a northern prison site, was "common sense".
"We'll wait and see what plans they put in place going forward, but it would be a pity to see a facility like that be closed and shut down when it's no longer used as a youth detention centre," Cr Johnston said.
"A lot of money has been spent on it. It has been a correctional facility for a long time, and I don't think the residents of Deloraine area will be that worried about it being a prison.
"Obviously, there are some neighbouring landowners [who] won't be happy, and I know they've already voiced their concerns, but that's for the government to work their way through with those landowners."
Prison 'shouldn't be placed in the middle of rural area'
Ms Archer said consultation with the landowners would continue throughout the process.
Westbury Region Against the Prison president — and Local Party senate candidate — Linda Poulton said the announcement prompted "shock and tears" for locals.
"It means the end of two and a half years of fighting and feeling anxious and not knowing what the future holds for our little community," she said.
"It's the end of a lot of anxiety and I think the health outcomes that come from that we can now address by starting to relax a little more."
Ms Poulton said she felt for the people of Deloraine and hoped the community would fight the proposal to place a prison there.
"If what's being planned is the same thing that was planned for us then, yes, they should be worried about that and I don't think a facility of that type should be placed in the middle of a rural area at all," she said.
Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff welcomed the move but said the Westbury sites should never have been considered.
"This is a huge win for the Westbury community. They've been suffering for years under the threat of a prison at that beautiful reserve, and they have fought relentlessly to defend that place and their community," she said.
"We are so supportive of this decision, and we wished that the government had listened to the Greens proposal in the very first place, that any therapeutic facility in northern Tasmania should be located on the Ashley Youth Detention Centre site when it's wound up."
Labor MP Jen Butler said abandoning the Westbury site was "welcome news" but there was still no time frame around when a northern prison would be delivered, or details about what it would look like.
"We're open to having a look at the details around that new proposal, but what we would look to see is some certainty for the people of northern Tasmania in relation to a northern prison," she said.
