Rodney District Council is seeking public feedback on how Wellsford Town Centre should develop in the future.
A draft Wellsford Town Centre Development Plan has been developed and will be available for public consultation from 20 January – 27 February 2008.
Wellsford is forecast to experience moderate growth in the future. The population of the town is expected to increase from its current size of 4,200 to reach 5,400 in 2031.
The draft Plan identifies that Wellsford, which is located at the junction of State Highways 1 and 16, is dominated by the State Highways, and there is a need to enhance the appearance of the town to capitalise on its location and create a more attractive environment for residents, visitors and businesses.
The Plan identifies improvements to streets, public spaces and walking routes within Wellsford that could be made. It suggests landscape improvements to they key approaches to the town and key internal roads.
The current library is expected to be too small to be able to service Wellsford over the longer term and the Plan identifies a number of possible future locations for the library.
Council staff met with a reference group comprising of local businesses, developers and community groups to discuss issues needing to be addressed in the Plan. The group identified traffic congestion on Rodney Street as a key concern. The Plan puts forward a number of options for reducing traffic on this key road.
“We want to encourage people to take the opportunity to review the draft Plan and then tell us how they would like Wellsford to look in ten or twenty year’s time,” says Jason Evans, the Council’s Senior Policy Planner.
“However it’s important to understand that the document is a draft for consultation only at this stage, and that the Council has yet to consider whether funding should be allocated towards the projects set out in the Plan,” he adds.
Copies of the draft Plan and submission forms are available from the Wellsford library and by clicking here.