‘‘We intend to go to market in September, that’s how much faith we have in the site,’’ Rose Group managing director Bryan Rose said.

Mr Rose said his company had ‘‘total belief’’ in the project despite a pessimistic assessment from an independent valuer.

The site, planned for more than a decade, gained state approval last year after overcoming court battles and opposition.

A confidential valuation report of the site, done independently of Rose Group and obtained by the Newcastle Herald, said sales of the site would rely on ‘‘discretionary spending’’.

‘‘It is likely to appeal to the affluent market, [with] the ability to purchase a second property for recreation,’’ it said.

The report said ‘‘this market is volatile’’ and industry sources said discretionary spending had dried up since the global financial crisis.

Mr Rose disagreed sales would rely on discretionary spending.

‘‘It’s not necessarily all holiday homes. I think people will live there,’’ Mr Rose said.

‘‘We have a huge database of people who are interested.’’

The confidential report valued the site conservatively at $6million, well below what an industry source said was an optimistic valuation of $50million before the global financial crisis.

Mr Rose said his company would not discuss its valuations but ‘‘we’ve never had a valuation at either of those figures’’.

He said his company intended to do a quality development that would increase values in the area.

The report said the site’s risks were infrastructure costs, a volatile property market, contamination, political campaigns and protests.

Planning documents show part of the site was contaminated from its former use as a coal washery and for stockpiling coal.

Mr Rose said the site had ‘‘no contamination risk’’ because the mining company that formerly owned the land had to clean the site up and ‘‘most of it’s already done’’.

The project had infrastructure costs of $9million to $18million, depending if Rose Group was able to share the cost with other developers, the report said. Mr Rose said infrastructure costs had been factored in to the project.

‘‘The town has been waiting for sewer and water for a long time and our development will provide that,’’ he said.

The report said the site was isolated and could be considered ‘‘speculative, experimental and unproven’’.

Mr Rose said the project would ‘‘directly and indirectly create more than 2000 jobs, which the Hunter needs’’.

Interest in land can be registered at catherinehillbay.com.