The purpose of the plan
The Dunedin Central City Plan is designed to guide development of the central city area for the next 10-15 years. It establishes a vision for the central city area and an integrated series of initiatives and changes designed to work towards this vision. The vision is aspirational and aims to support the city’s goal of becoming “one of the world’s great small cities”. The DCC sees a prosperous, vibrant, exciting, and accessible central city as a key to this aspiration.
The Central City Plan is based on the Central City Framework Plan developed by Urbanism+ urban design consultants in 2011. Urbanism+ developed the framework plan through an Inquiry-By-Design workshop process between May and August 2011. The process included key stakeholders such as the ORC and NZTA, key focus groups and an interactive public workshop. More information on this process is available in the Urbanism+ Central City Framework Plan.
This framework was presented to the Planning and Environment Committee in October 2011. It was referred to the Long Term Plan (LTP) process and a targeted plan was consulted on as part of the Long Term Plan in 2012. The draft Central City Plan received many submissions during the LTP consultation. The topic of changing the two, one way State Highway 1 roads to one two-way state highway/Warehouse Precinct traffic flow received 27 submissions and the Central City Plan/citywide amenity budget received 43 submissions. During deliberations, decisions on funding were deferred, given the budget issues Council was addressing at the time. As a result, the plan remained in draft form and was not formally adopted. However, a budget was included for amenity improvements in the Warehouse Precinct and for further investigation into reducing the one-way state highway system to one two-way state highway on Cumberland Street. This demonstrated the Council’s support for the intended goals of the Central City Plan and specific support for the revitalisation occurring in the southern part of the central city.
Although the plan was not formally adopted, consultation concerning the future look and feel of the central city has continued. Interactive public workshops were held in order to develop the Warehouse Precinct Revitalisation Plan(May – June 2012). Similar interaction workshops have been held for Princes Street (August 2014) and the Octagon and George Street (October 2014). Information and feedback from these sessions has been incorporated into the revised CCP.
Feedback relevant to the Central City Plan from a number of other consultation processes has also been integrated within this document, including consultation on the Dunedin Spatial Plan, District Plan Review, Dunedin City Integrated Transport Strategy, Arts and Culture Strategy, and Annual Plan, for example.