Bank Street also demands an upgrade

BANK ON IT: Bernadette Norman, Elaine MacKintosh and Benjamin Smith are among the business people pushing for a spruce up of Bank St. PHOTO/JOHN STONE

Cameron St is set for a glamorous $2.7 million makeover while its shabby sister Bank St deteriorates.

But help may be at hand for the main drag with a community group determined to see Whangarei's historic Bank St restored to its former glory.

Whangarei District Council has made a commitment under its 2015-2025 long-term plan to engage with the Bank Street Revitalisation Group, a collection of 12 business people representing a spectrum of interests.

"When visitors come up this is what they see of the CBD," said Heads Up on Bank salon owner Elaine MacKintosh.

"It's grotty and doesn't make people want to stop."

Bernadette Norman from Malletts said she was embarrassed taking Auckland colleagues for a coffee on Bank St.

"It's really quite yucky and scruffy and it's one of our busiest roads," she said.

Lack of signs, cruddy pavements, a dilapidated Rose St bus terminal and charmless decor are among the group's top priorities for change.

Monique Porteguys of EcoSolutions, near the Walton St roundabout, said Bank St was a main arterial route to tourist spots like the Town Basin, but it provided no logical entranceway into the city.

She said she would like to see the entire CBD maintained to a minimum standard, rather than concentrated areas of spending like the Cameron Street upgrade.

"We're stoked council want to engage with us and we hope it will be a productive process," she said.

Ms Porteguys said the increasing number of empty shops made Bank St look even more desolate. Although the group could not address this directly, a spruce up would make the area more appealing to prospective tenants.

After hearing the group's submission, WDC allocated an extra $20,000 a year for beautification, revitalisation and signs.