Street rumbles with complaints

Swanson St in the Auckland CBD. "It doesn't really get any sun," one store-owner says. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Retailers in another Auckland CBD pedestrian zone are unhappy with plans to revamp their street, saying their feedback has been ignored.

The upgrade of the Swanson St thoroughfare between Queen St and Mills Lane was approved on Monday by the Auckland City Council's urban strategy and governance committee.

The move - estimated to cost beyond the $1 million budgeted over three years - will add wider footpaths, lighting and landscaping, and see the existing paving ripped out and replaced with bluestone.

Many retailers the Herald spoke to were unhappy with the changes.

Following public anger, the council last week backed down from its million dollar makeover of nearby Vulcan Lane, dropping plans to pave the pedestrian strip in bluestone, and doing away with a circle of five nectar feeders for tui.

As with Vulcan Lane, Swanson St retailers said they had few options.

They said choices presented to them differed only in the shape and design of the white terrazzo wall down the middle of the pedestrian mall.

Any other ideas, such as one retailer's suggestion to keep the paving, was ignored, they say.

The council said all but three key issues raised by its October 2004 consultation were integrated into the revised design.

The provision of seating in the street's upper section, a request to retain a loading zone outside the Stamford Plaza, and a request to create a one-way traffic system, were scuttled.

The new design sees a curved wall going down the middle of the street, with seating built into the curves of the wall. Devices will be put into the intersection of Swanson St and Mills Lane to slow vehicles and provide a pedestrian crossing. Landscaping will include tree ferns, low shrubs, and titoki trees.

Clare Willicott, who runs Perfume Gallery, said she could not see the point of the changes.

"The new layout is no improvement. It's just a waste of money and a waste of time. I just know it will take twice as long as they say it will take to be done."

Another store owner said improving the landscaping and cleaning the area once in a while was all that was needed. "It doesn't really get any sun, so it's not really the sort of place where people will come and sit with their lunchboxes because it is between buildings."

Barry Jones, manager of Suiting You, said the council's decision not to put in a one-way street was his main sticking point. He said minor accidents happened often. "A one-way street will stop a lot of the nonsense. The only thing for us is they're moving that five-minute park."

Trucks often unloaded goods in the space outside his shop with engines running, causing problems with dust.

"We've got people in there, and we can't hear ourselves speak. You get a couple of big coaches there and a couple of big lorries and it makes our shop like a coalmine. We don't see any light."

He said the design was "not too clever" but "anything" would improve it.

"We gave them our opinions, and a couple of other people gave them the same sort of opinions, but the council's the council. And they don't tend to listen."

John Hinchcliff, acting chairperson of the urban strategy committee, was surprised at the comments. It was his impression that the public were happy with what had been planned.

"Our aim is to upgrade the city as much as we can to make it a more friendly and more accessible place, so if the innovations are not doing that, we need to consider again."

He said he would speak to council officers about the matter.

The Swanson St upgrade will link to upcoming upgrades of Queen St and Vulcan Lane, forming part of the core upgrade of the CBD. Work was to start in March next year and take up to five months.