Tory St project not such a hit
An ambitious but temporary revitalisation of Wellington’s lower Tory St is not going over well with local business owners and they plan to confront Wellington City Council about its lack of consultation.
The design, which has seen the street become one-way for three months, was the result of the Reimagine Tory Street design competition run by the council last year.
A group of three landscape architecture students from Victoria University of Wellington won with their project, It’s Tory Time, which featured platform seating and several planter boxes.
Their win was announced in August when it was stated that students had met with local businesses and residents about the design alongside running a dropin session where members of the public shared their thoughts and ideas. However the manager of one of the businesses, Liz Standish, of Brendon Motors, said that wasn’t the case and there was a distinct lack of consultation on the $141,000 project.
‘‘The problem now is we can’t get tow trucks into the street because they need to be able to turn around and back into the workshop.’’
As well, a handful of businesses had reported an increase in anti-social behaviours such as late-night skateboarding and drunk people using planter boxes as ‘‘puke buckets’’.
However, a police spokeswoman said since the installation date there had been no incidents in which the police were called to the area.
Along with former city councillor and property owner Chris Parkin, Standish is in the process of getting the lower Tory St business owners together to organise a meeting with the council ‘‘as soon as possible’’.
Lambton ward councillor Brian Dawson said while he had received a few, mainly positive, emails about the project, none had been from anyone in the actual Tory St area. The set-up was temporary and issues would be worked out in due course.
‘‘I quite like it, but we do need to attend to the flow-on effects at the Taranaki St corner.’’
Chris Wilkinson, the managing director of retail consultancy First Retail Group, said the group had been involved immediately after the Kaiko¯ura earthquake, working with the council and local businesses to support the commercial community in the area. Wilkinson said he had seen the area being used for its intended purpose during the trial, but that didn’t mean there were not issues.
‘‘I can understand the challenges businesses have faced in terms of loading and customers picking goods up. Essentially, there should be some ‘quick stop’ zones, so service businesses like the picture framer, florist and those grabbing coffee, can have the convenience they had before.’’
A handful of businesses had reported an increase in antisocial behaviours.