Committee to drive Victoria St beautification
ONE of the busiest entries to Dubbo is a step closer to being beautified following the establishment of the Victoria Street Beautification Project and a precinct committee of 12 stakeholders last Thursday, March 1.
The group will negotiate with a Landscape Architect Consultant and the Dubbo Regional Council (DRC) to move forward with the beautification of the western entry to the city.
Thirty members of the public, residents, business operators, retailers, property owners and council administration and councillors attended the foundation meeting at the Westside Hotel.
“There were also a number of people who weren’t directly involved in any activity in Victoria Street but for whom it is a regular thoroughfare either to work or into the CBD, approaching from the western side of the bridge, and they have been fed up with the tired and shabby look of the main road for some time and keen to see change,” said City West Plaza developer Kath Skinner.
Dubbo Regional Councillors present included Vicki Etheridge, who has been advocating for an upgrade and revitalisation of neighbourhood centres across Dubbo since October 2017, and Jane Diffey.
DRC director Infrastructure and Planning Chris Devitt also attended.
“Councillor Etheridge spoke about the motion successfully put to DRC on Monday, February 26, by DRC director Infrastructure and Planning Chris Devitt in relation to funding for a Landscape Architect to consult with the precincts and develop conceptual plans for the improvement to the area,” said Kath.
“She said the time was right for Council to invest in these areas, especially as small businesses are the backbone of economic growth in the city and it is these precincts where small businesses cluster and deliver local services.”
Chris Devitt spoke about processes Council needed to undertake to address these much-needed developments.
“He cautioned that community development also needed to keep in mind that roads were not only thoroughfares for traffic but carried essential services underground, and these services and the continuity of service needed to be considered in all rectification and beautification processes,” Kath said.
“We started this journey nearly five years ago, spurred on by an occupancy rate of 28.5 per cent – that’s five out of seven shops vacant at the time,” Kathy Skinner said during the meeting.
“Not only is this not good as an investor, it’s not great if you’re a resident seeing vacant shops along your street, encouraging crime and vagrancy as well as a significant loss of services and opportunities to shop locally.
“Clearly it’s also not good if you’re one of the two remaining tenants in the block – you’d have to be wondering why everyone is moving away! And, of course, it also reduces the amount of foot traffic flowing past your shop.
“It was also a very poor look for the precinct as a whole and did nothing to improve the overall image of this side of the river,” she said.
After a revitalisation of shops now called “City West Plaza”, Kath’s aim is for 100 per cent occupancy.
Discussions took place with the previous council about street beautification, improvements to the safety and appearance of the footpath in front of the shops and introducing timed parking, to no avail until councillor Vicki Etheridge took up the mantle.