New Town Retail Precinct Streetscape Upgrade Project

The Directions and Options stage built on the issues and aspirations that had been identified by the community in the previous stage, and turned these into recommendations that would directly shape the project.

A Project Action Team (PAT) of about 20 New Town community members considered the information gathered in the previous stage. This was an intensive process which took place over 4 facilitated workshops (and extra reading at home) where the team engaged with a wide range of background inputs and worked together to define the project's objectives. Options were evaluated and the end result was a report of 30 recommendations presented to Council Aldermen.

The PAT's recommendations will form the basis for the draft Streetscape Plan. This will be a concept plan developed over summer and presented to the community for consultation in March 2018.

During the Issues and Vision stage of the project (July-September 2017) our focus was on listening to the community and recording everyone's views about the project. The results of these conversations have influenced the project objectives, forming the foundation for the deliberative work of the Project Action Team.

Activities in this stage included a mail out of project information to almost 2500 local residents and businesses, a community workshop held at Sacred Heart College and attended by about 70 New Town locals, workshops with students at New Town Primary School, Sacred Heart College and New Town High School and discussions with traders in New Town Road.

In addition, lots of background information was collected in this period, including two weeks of traffic data to measure volumes and speeds, pedestrian counts and feature survey in the street.

The results of this consultation stage can be found in the 'related documents' section on this webpage.

A plan for Hobart's Local Retail Precincts

In spring 2015, the City of Hobart appointed consultants to identify and prioritise streetscape upgrades for five retail precincts across Hobart. Local traders staged pop-up events in main streets to test traffic interventions and streetscape improvements. Participants designed, organised, tested and proved their bold concepts, and the communities had a lot of fun in the process.

The New Town Traders Group tested a concept that removed traffic from the intersection of New Town Road, Valentine Street and Cross Street, creating a new village square. The event was a success, and surveys showed that the community and the traders enthusiastically endorsed the concept.

A master plan was developed (illustrated above) which recommended:

• a village square and village green to define and reinvigorate New Town’s community hub by closing vehicle access to Cross Street and Valentine Street from New Town Road
• a new pedestrian crossing on New Town Road
• paved alfresco dining and sitting areas to support and promote activation
• space for events, markets, and other related activities
• improved footpaths
• traffic calming on New Town Road.

Since the 2015 trial, discussions with traders and the New Town Community Association have revealed that there are many different views about the proposed concept. In particular lots of people have real concerns about the impacts of restricting traffic access.

The City now wants to hear everyone's views to understand what is most important regarding the future of the retail precinct. The results of this consultation will inform the project objectives and these will lead to the creation of a plan in collaboration with community members.

Taking the time to give everyone a chance to have their say will give us the best opportunity of developing a final plan that has broad community support.