Issue Number Three: The Cromwell Town Centre or lack thereof...

The Cromwell Mall - or town centre is the cause of much concern and debate.  Most of the criticism is about the design and layout of the space that seems to have had its heyday in the past and people would like to see it revitalised, rejuvenated and brought into the modern era.  How will we do that and what are the barriers to making this happen?

My little video clip will give you a little bit of insight into my thinking or if like me you prefer to read stuff - keep reading.  I wish I had some fabulous answers to a vibrant busy town centre - but I think it is going to be much more important for us to work together with the Cromwell community to find ways to add life and vibrancy to this space.

We currently see the mall/town centre as primarily a retail space and there are some successful and loyal retailers who are current mall tenants.  Retail is a globally tricky issue with the prevalence of online shopping options and the proximity of major shopping areas like Remarkables Park and Five Mile it is really hard to survive as a boutique retailer in a small town unless you have other strings to your bow.  It is highly unlikely that a major anchor retailer is going to want to set up shop in the mall. So my question is - do we need to think beyond retail about what could happen in the mall?

The Cromwell Master Plan certainly looks at other possibilities to explore like a revamped civic area that includes council offices, community board chambers, council services and a modern library that link to a central 'town square' space in the centre of the mall.  It also highlights that there is room for residential development both inside the mall and in the spaces close by.  The Wooing Tree development may well be a beginning of this residential link to the town centre.

The Melbourne design team talked about how in many cities around the world people are embracing lane ways and alleyways that are interesting to explore and I know on my travels to places like Melbourne or Tokyo it is these types of spaces that we have found interesting as we've navigated our way round the city. Their thinking was that this works when footfall is increased and footfall is increased by having people living in and around the town centre space. So it is worth thinking about what the impact of residential development in and around the mall might be.

If the mall is no longer thought of as just a retail space - what will be in those spaces instead?  We have seen a drift of businesses opening office space on the edges of the industrial area.  How do we attract businesses that need office space back into our town centre?

Cafes, restaurants and bars make up a good proportion of the mall tenants, particularly on the 'big fruit' face of the mall and down to the 'wall' where Amigos and Bargarita have taken up residence. The addition of these businesses does add life and vibrancy and provide a space that people want to visit - so how do we attract more?

Many people feel that opening up of the mall and making the spaces easier to see and more open will help with way-finding and make it a more attractive space for businesses to want to set up and for people to want to visit.  The Urbanism plus report that was commissioned by the previous board and that saw the initial development stages completed supported this view of how the mall could become a more successful space.  The opening up of the 'big fruit' side of the mall has certainly had a positive effect and there is still plenty of merit in what else was proposed and much of this thinking has been included in the Master Plan - not overtaken by it - so it is still an important piece of the puzzle. Many of the mall's current tenants have looked at ways to open up onto the car park side to open their businesses out the other way.

Car parking is an issue that is often raised in relation to the mall area and it is increasingly difficult to find parking, particularly in the busier summer season.  People often comment that the carparks are full but the mall is empty - where are all the people? This is an issue that any town centre redevelopment will need to address.  I don't think it is as simple as time limits and ticketing - there has to be scope for further parking and a solution needs to be found.

A major barrier to development in the Cromwell town centre space is that only a very limited number of the buildings are council owned, meaning that there are sensitive issues, compromise and cost around being able to progress radical plans for redevelopment.  We have to initially look at what we own and therefore what we can control and think about what we can influence or negotiate to make bigger plans happen.

I look forward to hearing what the Cromwell community have as solutions to this issue to help us move forward to a space that is a real centre for our town.