Alice Springs CBD consultation plan endorsed by council

Alice Springs council has endorsed a consultation plan for the CBD Regeneration Project amid a fresh petition being lodged against a road through Todd Mall. Read the next step here.

The Alice Springs community will have its say on the controversial CBD Regeneration Project, following a new petition being launched against a road through Todd Mall.

Council began seeking tenders for the multimillion dollar CBD revitalisation, budgeted to cost between $18m and $23m, last year, which highlighted opening the mall as “a shared car, pedestrian and cyclist roadway” as a possibility, among other upgrades.

Councillor Gavin Morris presented a new petition against the roadway at the meeting following the announcement Jensen Plus had been appointed as consultants last month.

The petition was signed by 54 Todd Mall businesses, representing 95 per cent of traders in the mall, and called for confirmation the mall would not be replaced with a road.

A second petition has been launched against a road through Todd Mall. Picture: Annabel Bowles

It follows an earlier petition presented to council in February with more than 1000 signatures against opening the roadway to traffic.

Mr Morris said the petition presented an opportunity to talk about council’s strategy going forward.

“I take on board previous conversations that we don’t put the cart before the horse or vice-versa, but I also go back to my previous comments on the dangers of allowing consultation processes to be outsourced to organisations that don’t necessarily understand our context,” he said.

“And maybe we could be missing an opportunity here to really respond to 1000 plus signatures.

Councillor Gavin Morris presented the petition on behalf of the Todd Mall traders. Picture: Grenville Turner

“Shouldn’t we provide a platform where these people feel like they’ve been provided an opportunity to have their voices heard?”

Councillor Kim Hopper said council needed to recognise the obvious “distress” behind the petitions.

“I don’t think we can downplay the distress the traders are obviously feeling around a decision being already made,” she said.

Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson has come out in support of opening the roadway, but on Tuesday emphasised no decisions had been made with a stakeholder engagement plan from Jensen Plus endorsed by council in a closed meeting earlier that day.

The CBD revitalisation project will cost between $18m and $23m. Picture: Mark Brake.

“I think it (the petition) points to the misinformation that’s out there and I think that is completely vital that the narrative needs to be clear that absolutely no decision has been made in regards to any of the project upgrades,” he said.

“All members of the community will have their say in the design of the CBD.”

The community engagement plan is expected to be released to the public in the coming days, with Mr Paterson disputing concerns around outsourcing consultation to organisations outside of Alice Springs.

“I don’t share the same concerns around using someone who is a professional, they may not live here, but this is their butter and they have done this Australia wide so I am quite comfortable with councils endorsement of them,” he said.