Summit to look at ways to 'rejuvenate' Nelson's CBD

Friday, 8 December 2023

What's wrong with the CBD ? Nelson College students start a discussion.

A summit on the future of Nelson’s central city will look at ways to breathe life back into the CBD.

At a Nelson City Council meeting on Thursday, Mayor Nick Smith said a “high level summit” would be held in March “around the future of our city centre”.

It comes on the back of a community conversation about how to revitalise the city centre, spearheaded by The Nelson Mail's Creating a Better Downtown series, and the What If Whakatū-Nelson series of talks, panel discussions and workshops about innovative ideas and visions for Nelson.

At the meeting on Thursday, Uniquely Nelson manager Simon Duffy told councillors retailers in the city were “anxious”.

“It’s been a harsh winter.”

According to Statistics New Zealand’s retail trade survey for the June quarter, Nelson and Tasman had the country’s second and third worst declines in spending respectively, with a drop of 1.9% for Nelson and 1.2% for Tasman, based on the total volume of seasonally adjusted retail sales compared to the previous quarter.

A summit will be held in March to discuss ideas to rejuvenate Nelson’s CBD.

That improved for the September quarter, with growth of 2.5% for Nelson and 2.9% in Tasman compared to June.

Heading into Christmas, events like Black Friday sales were tough on small businesses, as big box retailers benefited much more, Duffy said.

“It’s hard for the small ones, but they’ve got to be in the mix.”

Councillor Pete Rainey asked whether a retail strategy would help city businesses.

Uniquely Nelson chairperson Chris Butler said it would, but it needed to have all the key parties involved and be spearheaded by the council.

Smith said the summit would be looking at the future of the CBD as the council developed its long-term plan to set the budgets for the next 10 years.

That plan is due to be adopted in June.

Richard Butler, top left, Richard Brudvik-Lindner, Tracy Allan, Sally Kidson, Gill Ireland, William Samuels and Anne Rush at the What if Whakatū-Nelson space in Hardy St.

“I’m really keen for that summit to address some of the longer term issues,” Smith said.

Speaking during a meeting break, Smith said the summit would look at ways to “rejuvenate” the city centre.

The summit would help “crystallise” many of the ideas coming out of community initiatives, he said.

“Council has welcomed the debate that has been facilitated by What if and by the Nelson Mail series, but want to use the summit to bring those ideas together and select those which we wish to take further.”

The council would make decisions before Christmas about what would be included in the draft long-term plan for consultation, but the timing of the summit would allow for submissions on the draft and ideas to be included when the plan was finalised in June, he said.

“The ambition for the summit it to provide a platform for the many interests in the city to be able to be present, build ideas for the future of our city, and for the council to get feedback on which of those have support to be taken to the next stage.”

The summit would be a full day, involving council, retail and hospitality sectors, property owners, investors and community organisations with an interest in the central city, he said.

One of the What If Whakatū Nelson hub organisers, architect William Samuels, said the summit would be an important next stage in developing a collective vision and collective action in the CBD.

“I think the value of something like the What If hub is that there has been a big community discussion about a vision for Nelson. It’s fantastic to see the council is looking a ways in which some of those ideas can take the next step,” he said.

Samuels said turning the ideas into reality would not just be solely driven by the council, but by the private sector and the community.

The hub has another week of speakers scheduled next week, and then would discuss how to collate and curate the hundreds of ideas it has received.

Nelson Mail editor Warren Gamble said the feedback from the downtown series showed there was a strong appetite for creative ways to inject more life into the city centre.

“The idea was to get a conversation started about our CBD, focused on positive changes,” he said.

“Nelson has great bones, but what the series and the What If hub have shown is that it could be much more vibrant, a real destination for residents and visitors. The challenge is to put some of these ideas into action.”