Community input sought for new design of Whanganui street

Street art by local artists is among the proposals.

Whanganui District Council is asking the community for feedback on the concept design for a transformative new streetscape planned for Drews Avenue.
Town Centre Regeneration project manager Ellen Young says it's been an inspiring process to work with key stakeholders on a vision for the area and now it's time to hear from the community.

A "feedback letterbox" for hard-copy comments has been positioned outside Article cafe in Drews Ave and an online survey can be completed on the Have Your Say page on Whanganui District Council's website, accessible at: https://www.whanganui.govt.nz/drews-ave
The Drews Avenue survey closes on Friday, April 9.
"Community feedback is hugely important for us and will continue to be so even after the installation of the design. It enables us to evolve the project based on the community's views and the ways they interact with the space," Ellen Young says.

Plans for the area include seating, greenery, a shared outdoor community table and interactive features.
"Drews Ave is at the centre of Whanganui's arts precinct," Ellen Young says, "and the aim is to make that creativity visible in the street."

Some clever, quirky details have been proposed by the stakeholder group to make the area unique, such as:

· UCOL student artwork projected on to buildings

· painted strips on the road designed by local artist Cecelia Kumeroa

· retro telephone handsets outside Article cafe playing music samples from bands that

once performed in the historic Whanganui Chronicle building

· a drawer with a selection of historic newspaper articles to acknowledge the building as the site of New Zealand's first newspaper.

The aim is to help combat climate change by providing bike racks and encouraging people to travel on foot.

As well as creating a vibrant and people-friendly destination, the aim is to help combat climate change by providing bike racks and encouraging people to travel on foot as they support local businesses.

Retaining the heritage value of the area has also been a focus during the design process.
A plan to enhance the hospitality and entertainment area in lower Victoria Ave is in the concept design stage. For more on both projects, see the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sINZ0xWTTW0&t=8s

Ninety per cent of the funding for these projects comes from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's Innovating Streets fund, which gives councils the chance to trial changes to make streets more people-friendly. Once the changes are in place, feedback will be gathered until May 2022 to determine whether the changes should be removed, modified or made permanent.