Alice Springs’ Todd Mall changes to be consulted on as tender awarded

A consultant has been hired to investigate the Alice Springs’ CBD revitalisation project, including opening Todd Mall to traffic. Read why changes could be ‘detrimental’ to the area.

The Alice Springs Town Council will use a consultant to investigate changes to Todd Mall in it’s multimillion dollar CBD upgrade, after 1000 people signed a petition demanding the mall not open to traffic.

The petition garnered 1,048 signatures and was presented to Alice Springs Town Council in early February.

It came after the council began to seek tenders on its $20m CBD revitalisation project last January, with opening Todd Mall as a public road or as shared car, pedestrian and cyclist roadway one of multiple areas of consideration in the project scope.

The petition was organised by local Todd Mall retailer Sophie Marriott, who said a shared roadway would be “detrimental” to traders and the wider community.

A report in response to a petition calling for Todd Mall not to open to traffic that received more than 1000 signatures has been presented to Alice Springs Town Council. Picture: Annabel Bowles

A consultant was awarded the tender for Stage 1 of the Alice Springs CBD masterplan earlier this month, with a concept design expected to be presented to council in the next seven months.

A report in response to the petition was presented to the council on Tuesday, stating it was expected the consultant would engage in a series of sessions with the community before a plan was presented.

“This way, any comments or concerns about the project can be addressed in the early stages and potentially be incorporated in the initial concept design,” it said.

It stated the consultant would also be expected to first investigate the feasibility of opening Todd Mall, considering local traffic, infrastructure and events like the Todd Mall market, before assessing potential upgrade options.

Alice Springs Town Council deputy mayor Eli Melky said closing out the petition through receiving the report and continuing the consultation process did not sufficiently cater to those who signed the petition’s concerns.

He instead suggested council invite those that initiated the petition for an open discussion.

“I just think that there are community members who have got concerns, they’ve submitted a petition, we’ve closed it out through process, but I’m not necessarily satisfied that’s going to be satisfactory to those that raised the petition and the thousand people who just get told ‘well that process is now complete, you’ve signed a petition, it’s on the table, and it’s now complete’,” he said.

He suggested council engage with the Todd Mall Traders Association as part of the consultation process.

Mayor Matt Paterson said it was “putting the cart before the horse” by discussing the petition before a consultation plan was present to council. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Mayor Matt Patterson said community members would be consulted during the consultation phase of planning.

He said before considering different changes to Todd Mall and the wider CBD the consultant would produce a consultation plan for endorsement from the council.

“And that’s why I think at that point, we should have this conversation, but I think we are putting the cart before the horse until we have this consultation plan,” he said.

He reminded council that it had been unanimous that they would investigate the road as part of investigating all options to revitalise the CBD.

“Obviously this is the piece that's most topical, that’s okay, it should be it means that people care about it and people want to have a say in the CBD,” he said.

“But I think the one thing we can all agree on is that something needs to change in our CBD.”

Councillor Steve Brown said he believed the petition was a reaction to misinformation, and that it would be “rather foolish” for council to not look at all measures available to revitalise the mall.

“I’m happy to see the process signed off and hopefully everybody will be as enthusiastic in participating when we actually get to the process of making decisions around that mall development,” he said.

The report was received and noted by councillor Mark Coffey and seconded by deputy mayor Eli Melky.