Hāwera Town Centre Upgrade
Nelson Street - completed
Monday 2 December, 2019
The upgrade works on Nelson Street (between Victoria to Union Street), Hāwera, are all but complete.
The work which was carried out by Inframax, formalizes the one-way street and includes new drainage, kerb and channel, footpath, streetscaping and road pavement.
South Taranaki District Mayor, Phil Nixon, is pleased with the completed works which he says was part of the Council’s wider programme to enhance Hāwera’s town centre streetscape and to provide more car parking on the street.
“We’ve now got a more attractive street, with
more parks, set up in a safer manner with raised platforms for pedestrian and
mobility scooter crossings and more clearly defined zones between pedestrian
and vehicle movements,” he says.
Countdown - completed
The new Countdown supermarket project is set to start next week (25 June 2018).
At 3500m² the new supermarket will be around twice the size of the current building and the whole area will be re-oriented and re-designed to improve parking, traffic flows and pedestrian access.
The existing supermarket will remain open for business until the new one is finished, which is expected to take approximately 14 months.
As with any development of this size, there will be some disruption to things like carparking while the new supermarket is being built. To accommodate this, additional car parks have been created in the areas which used to be occupied by Carpet Court and the Towers buildings (see diagram). The old car sales yard on the corner of Victoria and Nelson Streets is also available.
As part of the larger Hāwera Town Centre Strategy Nelson Street (between Victoria and Union Streets) will also become one-way. This will provide for more parking for the supermarket and surrounding businesses and parking time limits will be extended from 60 to 120 minutes.
The new layout should also reduce speed and increase pedestrian safety and provide a “seamless look” between the supermarket carpark and the surrounding area.
While construction is taking place,
temporary road markings and signage will be erected to reflect the new road
layout and once the new supermarket is built Council will work with the
developers to permanently reconfigure the parts of Nelson and Union Streets
which will border it.
Korimako Lane - completed
Campbell Lane - completed
Council approves Strategy
The Council approved its Town Centre Strategy for Hāwera in December 2015.
The Strategy, developed over 12 months by urban planning experts Boffa Miskell, involved considerable public and stakeholder input and was part-funded by Bizlink Hāwera.
It provides a suite of actions which will provide Hāwera with an opportunity for a more vibrant and economically sustainable town centre.
Some of the key proposals include;
- Development of a new Library/cultural/civic centre and greenspace in the central business district (CBD)
- Improved pedestrian and car park connections with the CBD
- Lighting improvements to highlight heritage buildings
- Redevelopment of the existing town square for retail and office development
- Actions to encourage traffic into the town centre
- Guidance for heritage preservation.
- Improved District Plan provisions to guide new development.
- Facilitation opportunities for events and activities in the CBD.
It’s important to understand that the strategy is not just about what the Council can do, but it sets out a framework that private developers and property owners can base their investment decisions on too.
At the end of the day it will be private enterprise who will be key to the success of the strategy.
"Implementing the Hāwera Town Centre Strategy will benefit the whole district and will also be a model for planning future upgrades in our smaller communities," says Mayor Ross Dunlop.
“Most rural district’s across New Zealand are losing population to the bigger centres so it’s essential that district’s like ours show leadership and have strategies in place which give the business community and our residents confidence in the future of our towns,” says Mr Dunlop. “Because if they don’t have that confidence they will choose to live and invest elsewhere.”
Mr Dunlop says that retaining and growing the district’s population is also important for South Taranaki getting its share of government funding which is predominantly population based.
“If our population declines it affects the whole district in terms of funding for government services like health, education, police – so doing nothing is simply not an option. The Hāwera Town Centre Strategy will provide real potential to attract new residents, businesses and visitors to South Taranaki,” he says.
