New Town Retail Precinct Upgrade - Update 

Dear New Town community members

We hope this finds you all well.  This is the first of our project bulletins for the New Town Retail Precinct streetscape upgrade.  This bulletin contains a summary of findings from the first stage of the project, titled Issues and Vision, including insight from the community workshop.

We would also like to remind you of the Project Action Team (PAT) process and how you can get involved in stage 2 of the project.  The PAT will represent the New Town community in the second stage, titled Directions and Options.  The PAT’s main task is to make recommendations about the direction of the project on behalf of the New Town community.

Stage 1 - Issues and Vision (Complete)

Our purpose in this first stage was to to listen to as many New Town people as possible and learn more about how the people of New Town use and value their local shopping strip, and to identify the community’s priorities for how it might be improved.  

Members of the City of Hobart project team have held workshops with students at the local schools, walked the strip and talked personally with many people in New Town Road.  We have attended several New Town Community Association meetings to talk with members about our emerging process.  We have mailed 2000+ information sheets, and we have read all of your survey comments. We are currently in the process of collating these findings.  We also enjoyed meeting and working with many community members at the workshop held at Sacred Heart earlier this month.  The notes from the workshop have been placed on the project’s Your Say Hobart page where you can read them (and maybe spot yourself in the pictures) by following the link below:

www.yoursay.hobartcity.com.au/newtownprecinct

The online Issues and Vision Survey closed last week and we still have some work to do to analyse all of the responses.  The final results of the survey will also be available on our Your Say Hobart New Town page soon. 

The results of all of this feedback will be important data for the project action team to respond to over the coming months during their discussions in the Directions and Options workshops. 

Stage 2 - Directions and Options (beginning 21 September)

In the second stage, Directions and Options, we will be working closely with the PAT who will collaborate on the concept direction for the design of the streetscape.  To aid discussion, the PAT will be provided with a range of information including the broader community’s feedback, physical site information and data related to how the street is used.  

Nominations are still open for the PAT; a number of people have nominated already. If you have been thinking about signing up but haven’t yet we encourage you to register.    You don’t need any special skills or experience, just enthusiasm for this project.  

Participants will need to attend four facilitated workshop sessions.  This is because each session will build on the next and it is important to have the whole picture in order to be involved in the outcomes at the end. The dates you’ll be required to attend workshops are:

1. Thursday 21 September 2017 (6pm)
2. Thursday 28 September 2017 (6pm)
3. Thursday 9 November 2017 (6pm)
4. Saturday 11 November 2017 (10am)

If there is anything that we can assist you with that might otherwise make it difficult to participate – such as transport or childcare costs, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.

We welcome your nomination before this Friday 15 September.  Sign up here:

https://yoursay.hobartcity.com.au/newtownprecinct/survey_tools/NEW_TOWN_PAT_REGISTRATION

Or call Project Manager, Sarah Bendeich on telephone 6238 2845  if you have any questions.

Kind regards

City of Hobart New Town Project Team