Town centre’s not-so-grand designs
Grand designs for Blenheim’s town centre have been ditched for a more cost-effective makeover.
Early aspirations of moveable pods – combining to make a stage – and two large grass areas at Market Pl was expected to cost $420,000.
But when the business group leading the project got a quote for $700,000, it decided to change tack.
Instead, the area will get its six grassy pods converted into four grassy pods, but with two big ones.
The work will still start after summer and is expected to take six to seven months. The revised plan is currently being costed.
Blenheim Business Association chairman Anthony Mullen said members felt the $700,000 was not a ‘‘good spend’’.
‘‘We’ve got to be able to I guess justify it to the public because it is still public rates money that is being spent,’’ he said.
Mullen believed the upgrade was not going to be the grand plan that would fully revitalise the central business district.
‘‘It’s never going to be the silver bullet and it’s not designed to be the silver bullet.
‘‘It’s a matter of freshening things up,’’ he said.
The Market Place upgrade is part of a $2 million project to revitalise the central business district by the Marlborough District Council.
Other developments in the proj- ect have included the $1 million Riverside Park upgrade and the recently finished Bythell Place upgrade.
It was the business association’s decision to scale back the Market Pl work, not the council’s, Mullen said.
New paving and a new taxi stand/drop off area were also part of the retrofit.
Blenheim business owner Cheryl Greer was furious at plans to change the paving, and the projected timeframe.
The disruption could be disastrous, especially on the back of State Highway 1 being closed all year, Greer said.
‘‘I really am worried about the disturbance to businesses with digging it all up again. It’s been a tough winter.
‘‘The people that used to come from Christchurch for the weekend to their baches haven’t come this year, because you have to take two days for travelling.’’
The plan behind the upgrade was to get people to relax in the town centre.
The council putting bean bags out had been really successful at keeping people in Market Pl, Mullen said. The association would present its new proposal to the council’s assets and services committee on October 19.