A Tasmanian council has voted on how its City Deal funding will be spent

A Tasmanian Council has approved spending millions of dollars on a CBD infrastructure facelift, with concerns raised over its focus on traffic congestion solutions.

• Kingborough Council releases Place Strategy with some major changes earmarked for Kingston
• The State Government has announced how $20 million in Kingborough infrastructure upgrades will be spent

CONCERNS have been raised over whether funds allocated to “beautify” Kingston will solve traffic congestion problems.

The Kingborough Council on Monday unanimously voted in favour of to use $7 million of its City Deal funding to redevelop central Kingston, focusing on public transport, outdoor dining and beautifying the Channel Highway into a main street.

The $7m was earmarked for “complimentary council initiatives” and the council will now contribute the sum to its Kingston Place Strategy – a move Mayor Dean Winter said would reduce the need to travel to Hobart, effectively easing traffic flow on the Southern Outlet.

Key priority areas under the development include transforming Kingston’s Channel Hwy to a pedestrian and business-focused street, with pedestrian crossings, wider footpaths and on-street dining.

Better pedestrian connections from Central Kingston and Kingston Park, and a focus on “bringing nature into public spaces” are also key council priorities.

The project spending adds to a further $13m in City Deal funds afforded to the municipality for further congestion easing initiatives including park and ride facilities, expanded bus services and bus stop upgrades.

“We want to make Kingston a destination in itself. We want to build a place where people want to do business, shop, learn or go to the playground to reduce the need to travel into the city,” Cr Winter said.

Artist impression of Kingston revamp

“With these decisions locked down, we can get down to delivering them in partnership with the Tasmanian Government.”

Cr Paula Wreidt told fellow councillors there were some “missed opportunities within the Hobart City Deal and Kingston congestion package”.

“I don’t think, at the end of the day, that beautifying our main street and tinkering around the edges is going to fulfil those [congestion busting] objectives of The Hobart City Deal,” she said.

“It is disappointing from that perspective, but I’m also happy to see the funding.”

Better Public Transport for Kingborough Association’s Clare Corrigan said she was disappointed with the council’s handling of the funds.

“A very rare opportunity came along in the form of The Hobart City Deal to actually address the pressure on The Southern Outlet and It is unlikely this amount of funding towards solving the traffic issues will be seen anytime soon,” she said.

“Community hopes were raised by the promise of the Greater Hobart Transport Vision which had viable solutions presented. To have that come crashing down and to accept that two very small park and rides facilities will instead be built is extremely disappointing.”

Cr Winter said the Council would invest an additional $2m into central Kingston and would soon commence its next stage of consultation with the business community.