The draft Concept Plan aims to:
- Address major concerns raised during community consultation regarding outdoor dining, parking, accessibility, and landscaping.
- Provide improved footpath access which complies with current Australian Standards
- Improve the overall aesthetic of the centre by installing new granite pavements, new bench seating, new tree planting
- Improve the outdoor dining experience by creating two accessible outdoor dining areas
- Improve pedestrian access to the shops through new disabled parking space with new kerb ramps and shared area outside 3 Gibbons Street
- Improved pedestrian safety through providing safer access between the parked vehicles and the shop fronts
- Improve pedestrian safety by modifying the car park to comply with Australian Standards.
- Encourage economic activation by converting the car parking to the front of the shops to 2 hour parking
- An EV charging station, subject to funding availability
Community feedback gathered in October 2021 regarding ideas for improving the shops, showed that:
- Most people come to the centre by walking (66%) or driving (37%)
- Many respondents thought the centre was out-dated, run-down, out-of-place
- Residents also asked for a variety of shops (this is not something that Council controls)
- The café was identified as the centre’s biggest attractor - many respondents asked for expanded outdoor dining
- Whilst most respondents consider the footpath to be in a good condition, numerous respondents provided useful suggestions about improving the streetscape, providing more shade and increasing footpath accessibility
In June and July 2022, the opportunity to share feedback was presented on 16,571 occasions, culminating in 1,158 views of the project page and 22 survey submissions!
- 46% support the draft Concept Plan for Gibbons Street Shops with another 36% support to an extent.
- From the feedback, its great to see support for the increased provision of outdoor dining as well as wider paths.
