People’s ideas sought to fix Kingston ‘mess’

CENTRAL Kingston is set to get a major overhaul after falling victim to decades of poor planning and design, says the Kingborough mayor.

The Mercury can reveal the Kingborough Council has engaged consultants Placescore to survey the community ahead of a new masterplan for Kingston.

Mayor Dean Winter said more than $2 million had been budgeted to fix the Channel Highway at Kingston and to construct a new bus interchange this financial year, but those projects would wait until after the council had heard from the community.

“Central Kingston mess,” he said.

“We need to understand what makes town centres vibrant and attractive for community members and business owners.

“We are really pleased to have been allocated $800,000 for a new bus interchange at Kingston by the State Government through the city deal. We is a want to make sure we get its placement and design right.

“The activation of our central business district is a critical step to reduce congestion by making Kingston a more convenient place to do business, work and shop ... the loss of Vodafone has had a detrimental impact on Kingston businesses, but that the poor layout of Kingston was not helping local business.”

The results of the survey will help make up the redesign of the town centre as part of an overall masterplan. Kingston will also be home to one of the state’s largest residential developments in decades. The $300 million Kingston Park project will include 360 homes, plus retail and commercial spaces at the former high school site.

The development application for stage one has been lodged with the council, with the public exhibition period closing today.

Businesses, workers and shoppers can have their say on the future of central Kingston by completing the survey at www.oursay.org/kingboroughcouncil/placescore.