MidCoast Council is seeking final endorsement this month on Wingham's draft CBD masterplan, after incorporating the community feedback received during an extensive consultation held earlier this year.
"We received great feedback form the Wingham community to inform the draft concept plans, which we're now presenting to the community as a final check before we proceed to detailed design planning for various elements of the masterplan," said Council's Manager - Projects and Engineering, Rhett Pattison.
Council will hold a stakeholder meeting with local businesses, and will hold two pop-up sessions on Isabella Street outside Bent on Food, providing an opportunity for people to chat with our Engineers before providing formal feedback on the draft masterplan.
The pop up sessions will take place on Friday 30 April from 10am -12pm and Thursday 6 May from 11am – 1pm. If it's raining, we'll reschedule to another date.
The draft masterplan will be on exhibition for comment until Thursday 27 May, and is available for viewing at the link above.
You can submit your feedback there also, via the online survey.
Information from the previous consultation was very detailed, from almost 18,000 people reached via social media, nine pop-ups held with 140 people dropping in, and 212 responses to the online survey and two submissions.
The complete feedback is included in the Engagement Outcomes Report available at the link above, with 74% of all respondents satisfied or very satisfied with the concept plans.
Over half of respondents (52%) were in favour of the peanut style intersection option for Farquhar and Bent Streets.
There was widespread support (86%) for a stepped wall design to replace the Central Park retaining wall, with 69% of respondents preferring brick with timber inserts for the wall's construction. Exposed aggregate concrete with brick border was the preferred surface for footpaths.
In Central Park, people want to retain the tiled mosaic, the corner pergola entrances to the Park and as much greenery as possible.
"We've listened to this feedback, and now have a more detailed draft masterplan to present as a final check-in," said Rhett Pattison.
"We've also tried, wherever possible, to address the most common concerns expressed during the first consultation – with ensuring the best car parking solutions in the CBD, obtaining a Heritage Study for the CBD, and appropriate 'greening' of the CBD streets, with shady trees that will cool streets during hot weather."
"The loss of parking spaces from the main streets was one of the biggest concerns people had with the proposal."
"We've attempted to address this by creating offset parking options. For example, the current upgrade of the McCullagh car park with new shade structure, resurfacing and improved access via the lane to Isabella Street should promote greater usage of this car park and replace car parks lost from the main street."
To view the draft masterplan, associated documents and provide your final feedback, head to the link above, and drop into a pop up if you'd like to discuss the draft masterplan with us.
