The proposal to build the Shaolin temple and tourist complex on the Comberton Grange property has been around for just on seven years, but plans are finally starting to take shape, with the project’s environment assessment report going on public exhibition on Monday.

It will be on exhibition for a month at Shoalhaven City Council’s offices and on the Planning Department’s website.

The $360 million proposal includes plans for a temple along with accommodation for between 30 and 50 monks in a walled precinct, a kung-fu academy with educational facilities and student housing, and a village centre offering commercial, retail and dining facilities to serve the needs of tourists and local residents.

Those residents will be living in 300 housing lots included in the development, or in four-storey buildings offering serviced apartments designed to accommodate visiting individuals and families.

A four-star hotel included in the plan is expected to offer accommodation for 500 guests.

There is also an 18-hole golf course, a health and wellness precinct offering a traditional Chinese medicine centre and a fitness centre, while a Chinese herbal garden is planned for near the quarry pond.

Agricultural and herbal farms and an information precinct near the entrance to the site are also included in the plan.

While the environment assessment report is going on display next week, the development application still has some way to go before it is approved.

Shoalhaven City Council’s co-ordinator of major development applications called in by the state government under Part 3A of planning regulations, John Britton, said several steps were still required.

He said the Planning Department was writing to many individual landholders asking for their views, and all public submissions would be assessed along with responses from a range of government departments and agencies.

Planning officials often found gaps in the information provided to them, Mr Britton said, and regularly called for additional reports along with responses from the applicant to issues raised during the exhibition process.

While the Shaolin application covered all the planned development, “Quite likely at some point the applicant might ask for the approval to be in stages,” Mr Britton said.

The public exhibition comes just days after council agreed to defer interest payments due earlier this month on the Comberton Grange property purchase, for six months or until the environment assessment plan was approved.