Stream area to be redeveloped

Porirua’s new main street will be one step closer to reality this autumn as the city centre revitalisation picks up pace.

Porirua City Council is spending $210,000 on initial redevelopment work beside Porirua Stream between April and June, in a precursor to creating a ‘‘streamside plaza’’ complex and new street in Ferry Place, linking Lyttleton Ave to Cobham Ct.

North City shopping centre’s planned extension will open on to the new street, and it is hoped the lane will become a bar and restaurant hub, says mayor Nick Leggett.

‘‘The plaza will connect to the railway station, the harbour, the new entrance to North City Shopping Centre and back through to Cobham Court. It will be clear to people they have found the centre of town and it will be clear how to find their way around from there,’’ he says.

The restaurant district will begin this year with coffee and food carts being invited to set up in a new pedestrian zone by the stream.

Car parks next to the banks of Porirua Stream, opposite the Lyttleton Ave bus stop, will be removed to create a grassy streamside pedestrian zone.

Other changes planned before June include widening the footpath on Lyttleton Ave and installing better lighting, screening the street’s brick pump station with wooden panels, and installing water and electricity in the removed car park for food stalls to use.

‘‘In order to help create this streamside plaza there are a few things the council needs to put in place first and that’s what we are doing now,’’ Mr Leggett says.

Better use of existing resources is the key to this year’s work, says spatial designer Jonathan Custance, who sits on Porirua City Council’s city development subcommittee.

‘‘It’s about improving the pedestrian flows within the city and turning the city around to link with the waterways, without reworking existing buildings and infrastructure,’’ he says.