Banning private vehicles in Wellington CBD - too soon?

Wellington may be moving too fast in it’s bid to rid the central city of private vehicles by 2024, according to landscape architect Garth Falconer.

The director of Reset Urban Design says local authorities may be better off reducing its so-called Golden Mile to a transitional stage of reduced traffic until the area is better populated with residential options and thus better able to sustain a thriving retail and entertainment sector 24/7.

Falconer was responding to news that Wellington’s city and regional councils have approved a radical option to ban private vehicles from the Beehive to the end of Courtenay Place, after widespread public approval.

Instead priority will be given to pedestrians, cyclists or those using public transport. Footpaths will be widened by up to 75 percent for the 1.5km stretch along Lambton Quay, Willis Street, Manners Street and Courtenay Place.

Lambton Quay near Parliament earlier this week.

The revamp is part of the $6.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving programme, a joint venture between Wellington’s city and regional councils and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

But while the public appears to be on board, retailers have concerns over what the up-to $79 million revamp will do to their businesses which many say have struggled to recover from COVID-19 measures.

Many fear if customers can’t use their cars to get to the area, they won’t come.

And Falconer says whilst it would be great to have wider footpaths they may have a point.

“City centres in New Zealand are largely vehicle dominated and with little residential .. changing traffic will be only partly addressing the rafts of issues. We are looking at buildings that aren’t safe under earthquake requirements and landlords aren’t putting money into them, to convert them into residential.

“There have been moves involving pedestrainising main retail streets to make them active in response to shopping malls and latterly online shopping for several decades now and the places where that’s successful are rare .I can only think of Citymall in Christchurch and that’s had a checkered career.”

Falconer says often ideas like pedestrainising streets come from overseas “without understanding the context.”

“Currently there’s a big move in Barcelona about making super blocks - four to eight blocks and maintaining traffic circulation on the outside of it, and the internal streets are pedestrianised.

“And that works well in Barcelona; also bits of Paris – where you’ve got a high number of people living there (in the city)and they’re coming down and they’re walking, spending money in cafe, they’re there in the evening and the weekend and there are lots of events. Here it’s not the same There’s not a lot of activity in our (city) streets 24/7..

“In this era of increased mobility our traditional retail centres are struggling for relevance, and to create gravity….they really are.”

Falconer was speaking to LAA from Takapuna, where the main street is being converted to a one way system. “We’re reaching a balance between movement and amenity by maintaining some movement, not fully pedestrianising it because we realise we haven’t yet got the residential catchment to sustain the required level of activity.

“This stage is a transition stage. It could be 10, 15 years away before critical mass is going to be there to support pedestrianisation.”

He estimated around a third of shops in the street are either vacant or being leased by very short term operators “which aren’t providing a very great offering.”

Courtney Place is included in the “Golden Mile” proposal.

“The days of department stores, family chemists and hardware stores that used to be on our main streets have been, they’re eroded because they’re (now) out in the suburban malls or have been swallowed up by large format operators.

Falconer says the future of downtown areas need to be based on ultra humanising retail streets with stimulating, comfortable and safe environments. He says in Wellington’s case he wants more detail on the necessary social aspects to be convinced it’ll work.