Townsville CBD: Cairns, Mackay politicians explain success

Cairns and Mackay have revealed the secrets to a thriving CBD with community leaders urging Townsville put in place a comprehensive plan to bring the city heart back to life.

The entrance to the decrepit former Dimmeys Arcade in the aging Townsville CBD. Inset pictures are Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds (top) and Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson who have shared their respective views on the recent respective successes with revitalising their own central-business districts: Picture: Evan Morgan

Cairns Deputy Mayor Brett Olds says Townsville needs to formulate and follow a comprehensive master plan if it wants to revitalise its much-maligned CBD.

Mr Olds said the key to having a thriving CBD such as Cairns was “humans”.

“You need people there and you need to find a way to lure them in, you’ve got to give them a reason to go in there,” he said.

“And you can’t just throw money at the problem, you’ve got to have a plan, not just through the council, do some consultation and ask them what would make you want to go into the CBD.”

The local-body politician who has been a councillor for 10 years and deputy mayor since 2024 said “any plan will work, but you’ve got to stick to it … and see it through”.

A wrecked roof, graffitied walls, and damaged tiles at the former Dimmeys Arcade greets visitors to the Townsville CBD. Picture: Leighton Smith.

“If the goal is making the CBD more vibrant, talk to the Safe Night Precinct guys, talk to the businesses in there because they will get on board if they know you are going to bring humans in there,” he said.

“Consult with all those people … and the wider public, find out what they want to do, what do you think would get them in there and then stick to your plan, just don’t do it half-heartedly, go for it.”

CAIRNS CBD

Mr Olds said Cairns boasted a thriving CBD for a number of reasons, including the high number of tourists.

“We’ve got the international airport and obviously the wet tropics and the rainforests up here and then the reef, I know we’re a bit closer to the reef than Townsville for the boats to go out,” he said.

“Just by nature, just by being geographically located, we have more tourists here … we’ve got between 35,000 and 45,000 in our region every night of the year.”

Cairns Regional council deputy mayor Brett Olds. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Olds said the council was not taking those figures for granted and had constantly striven to develop the CBD and seaside Esplanade since the “game-changing” Cairns Lagoon opened in 2003.

He said that included a much-needed facelift for primarily hospitality businesses on the Esplanade during the Covid closures.

“The dining precinct, it was just run down, it needed some TLC … and we worked with all the owners of the restaurants, we said ‘look, this might take a year-and-a-half’ but they all got more footpath metreage, they all got more tables and chairs,” he said.

“We thought it would cost $32 million but we got it coming under budget, I think it was $28 million and we made it really nice … it’s really kicked it up a notch.”

Punters enjoy alfresco dining for breakfast at The Chambers restaurant, at the intersection of Spence and Lake Streets in the thriving Cairns CBD. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Olds said the council had adopted and completed three different master plans in the last decade alone, and also spent about $5 million per year in the area, which included keeping the area “immaculate” – at least during the day – and at least $3 million for security.

“You want it to look pretty, you want it to be safe and you want to have things for people to do … and we invest a lot of time and money into all those things.”

MACKAY CBD

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said CBDs across Australia were “falling victim to stores with doors disappearing”, for a host of reasons including online shopping.

“We started on this a couple of terms ago (in 2016) when we introduced a Priority Development Area, which is quite large, about 72 hectares, it has five regions, the first region is the six-block CBD and then there’s our waterfront and our main central park and we are gradually working through those regions.”

He said the PDA for the CBD relaxed parking rules and allowed residency of first-floor buildings in the Art Deco-style inner city but there “is a lot more that needs to be done”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese officially opened the Riverside Revitalisation Project with ALP Senator for Queensland Nita Green, Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson and Mackay Regional Council CEO Scott Owen in April, 2024. Picture: Supplied

The deputy mayor of the thriving city had established a specific city and waterfront development team comprising an engineer, a planner, a market analyst, a businessperson and an administration officer “to energise the waterfront and CBD”.

“An integral part of that the prime minister opened late last year was a pontoon, there’s never been a pontoon in our river that you can pull up to and get off and you’re in the CBD.”

The Riverside Revitalisation Project is jointly funded by the Australian Government and Mackay Regional Council.

He said another key area for activation was “cycleways and pedestrians”.

“How do you make it easier for cycleways to traverse the CBD, how do you make it easier for pedestrians … we’re about to spend in this budget period, a fair amount of money on redeveloping a lot of the pedestrian walks, particularly down by the river that allow people to walk through the CBD.”

Mr Williamson said it was also imperative that private enterprise needed to also get on board.

“I’m sure Townsville is exactly the same, we’ve faced a fair amount of land banking by owners who are not operators who don’t live here – about 40 per cent of our CBD is not owned by locals.”

Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson. Picture: Heidi Petith

TOWNSVILLE CBD

Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said that given the strong economic outlook for the region, “this is the time for us to explore possibilities in how we can reinvigorate the city centre.”

“Townsville’s city centre has evolved, and it will continue to grow and change over the years, but it remains a place that is at the heart of Townsville.”

She said that while the council continued to invest in community safety across its entire local-government area, all levels of government and social agencies needed to work to address anti-social behaviour across the city.

“Every Townsville resident and visitor deserves to feel safe no matter where they are,” she said.

“Everyone has the right to walk safely through the streets without fear of harassment or violence.”

Townsville City Council Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney. The TCC has so far failed to respond to questions about its CBD.

Addressing the issues confronting the CBD, Ms Greaney said Townsville needed a “multifaceted approach to support the sustainability of our city centre”.

“We need strategies around activation, community safety, supporting private investment and delivering community infrastructure, but council can’t do this alone,” she said.

“It requires partnerships and ongoing relationships between council, business, community and other levels of government.”

TCC spends more than $3.3 million each year on security services across Townsville, including building and asset patrols, CCTV monitoring (including in the city centre); Riverway patrols and the Community Response Vehicle that frequents the city centre and works with the community to reduce anti-social behaviour.

A council spokesman said the Townsville City Plan provided a “framework for the planning and development of the city centre, including a concept plan for the precinct”.

“Council works with business and community stakeholders, as well as other levels of government, to support the city centre’s ongoing development and activation.”

Originally published as Townsville CBD: Cairns, Mackay politicians explain success