City Centre Streets for People feedback survey opens | Nelson City Council

What does the future of Nelson’s city centre streets look like?

Nelson City Council is exploring how to improve pedestrian safety, visitor experience, consumer spending and activity in Nelson’s city centre, and needs your help.

Through the City Centre Streets for People Survey, the Council is seeking community feedback and ideas on four proposed options.

Councillor Pete Rainey, Chair of the City Centre Working Group, said the survey was a chance for everyone to think about how they are using Nelson’s city centre and to consider whether it could be improved, and if so, how.

“We think Nelson’s central city is already a pretty special place to work and visit but as a Council we have big aspirations to make this area even better – a true heart of our region.”

The proposed options are:

1. Widening the footpath to 6 metres on both sides of Trafalgar Street in the area stretching from Halifax to Hardy Streets, and on the south side only of Hardy and Bridge Streets. Parking would become parallel on Trafalgar Street, and existing parallel parking on Hardy and Bridge Streets restricted to one side.

2. Widening the footpath to 8.5 metres on both sides of Trafalgar Street in the area stretching from Halifax to Hardy Streets, and 6 metres on the south side only of Hardy and Bridge Streets. Trafalgar St parking is removed and existing parallel parking on Hardy and Bridge Streets restricted to one side.

3. Pedestrianising Trafalgar St between Halifax and Hardy Streets, and widening the footpath to 6 metres on the south side only of Hardy and Bridge Streets. Existing parallel parking on Hardy and Bridge Streets restricted to one side.

4. Retain current street layout.

The options focus on Trafalgar, Hardy and Bridge Streets – areas identified in Council’s Public Life Survey as carrying the majority of the city centre’s foot traffic – 98,538 pedestrian movements were recorded over two survey days in winter, and 140,274 over two survey days in summer.

Each option would be achieved with semi-permanent fixtures, such as wooden footpath extensions and planter boxes.

For option 3, closing Trafalgar St off to vehicles, Council is also seeking feedback on how big a change the community would like to see – whether the street should be permanently closed and fully repaved for pedestrians, or left as it is and only closed to cars on weekends or for events, for example.

“The proposed options are a starting point. The actual design will not be done until Council hears your ideas and feedback. This is a chance for our community to help us create a new look and feel for our city-centre streets to benefit both our city and our economy – if they’re ready for a change,” Rainey said.

The proposed options build on the work already outlined in Nelson City Council’s Spatial Plan, which names city walkability among its top six tenets, and celebrates public life. It also supports the Long Term Plan 2018/28, which makes the city centre one of Council’s top four priorities in supporting its vision for a Smart Little City.

Feedback on the options can be made via the City Centre Streets for People Survey on shape.nelson.govt.nz between now and 5pm, 26 June, 2020.

Paper copies are available at Civic House or can be downloaded from the Council website. People who wish to take part in the survey but are unable to fill it out themselves can contact the Customer Service Centre on 03 546 0200 and a staff member will do it for you.