Beautification projects in Whanganui’s CBD on track to meet July deadline

The two blocks of Guyton St either side of Victoria Ave will eventually be revamped. Photo / Mike Tweed

Planning for two beautification projects in Whanganui’s central city is on track to be completed before the end of July - the cutoff point for government funding.

Streets for People takes in two blocks on Guyton St (on either side of Victoria Ave) and the public transport hub in lower St Hill St.

Whanganui District Council project manager Denise Brettell said a design team had been appointed and contracts were being sorted out.

“We have our road safety engineer involved at the ground level.

“He is able to tell us as we’re doing things, ‘You can’t do that’ or ‘I want more information on this’.

“We are getting that input right from the start. We think our timeframes are actually quite achievable.”

The budget is $1.26 million, 90 per cent of which is funded by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Deputy mayor Helen Craig, who chairs the council’s town centre regeneration committee, said a group of business owners had presented a visual plan for Guyton St a number of years ago.

A large artwork signalling entry to the town centre and telling people to slow down was one part of it.

“We’ve been talking about making it safer there anyway because there are a lot of accidents at that intersection,” Craig said.

“From there, I suppose you could call it beautification through the street to make it more welcoming to pedestrians.

“We don’t have that vision yet because a big part of the Streets for People funding is working with the community to get as much agreement as you can on what’s going to happen.”

The rejuvenation of Drews Ave, completed in 2021 at the cost of $400,000, also received 90 per cent of its funding from Streets for People.

Whanganui deputy mayor Helen Craig. Photo / Bevan Conley

That was “all about getting people out of their cars and walking”, Craig said.

“You go up Drews Ave, then to Pukenamu Queen’s Park because of the Sarjeant Gallery and the [Whanganui Regional] Museum, and then the natural way would be to go through to Guyton St.

“From there, you’ve got casual dining on the right [of Victoria Ave] and people could be drawn back down to the bottom block of the Avenue.”

In August 2021, an attempt to revamp the river end of Victoria Ave was scuppered days before construction was to start following objections from local businesses.

That was part of the government’s Innovating Streets initiative, the predecessor of Streets for People, and involved installing several outdoor seating areas, or parklets, in place of 10 parking spaces.

Craig said all the funding for that had to be given back, other than what had been spent.

“We had already made a lot of the platforms and everything, so they are in storage in the hope we can roll them out another time.

“They were built for the particular camber of those parts, though. You can’t just move them somewhere else.

“We’ve told the bottom block that we’ll let them have a breather, we’ll do Guyton St and learn a lot from that, which we can hopefully bring to them and restart the process.”

Of the $1.26 million, $38,448 has been spent so far.

Public workshops are already under way.

The next meeting for St Hill St will be on March 16 with meetings for Guyton St on March 21 and May 4.

The public transport hub on St Hill St must be an "attractive option", Helen Craig says. Photo / Bevan Conley

Council general manager of community property and places Sarah O’Hagan said expectations were being managed during the sessions, with “clear guard rails” put down.

There were concerns of a “tsunami of wild and whacky ideas” but that hadn’t come to fruition.

“We have got some really sensible things coming through, with a lot of commonalities. That makes the loopback process that much easier and less time-consuming,” she said.

“We are making decisions as a group but there are things we can’t adjust, things have to function as a road for example.”

Craig said making the public transport hub appealing to the public was important.

The new high-frequency Te Ngaru The Tide bus service makes a stop there.

“People need to feel that catching a public bus is an attractive option rather than making it grotty and neglected.

“You’re catering for children right through to older people.

“It’s got to feel safe, it’s got to be well-lit, and we can make it a nice place instead of it being purely functional.”

Some people didn’t like the design on Drews Ave, saying it was too modern or too industrial, she said.

Personally, Craig was a fan.

“Projects like this are about making a place for everybody, it’s not just the older generation.

“I think it’s wonderful that we can create areas in the city that really appeal to a wider range of our demographic.

“They will be challenging for some and others will love it. It’s quite exciting to think what might happen on Guyton St.”