Cam Paterson : Council undermining a better CBD

Whangarei is a fragile economy which lacks industry and therefore jobs.

There is little point in pondering why the Whangarei CBD is under-performing. The issues stem from poor decisions made by the council over the past 20 years. Whangarei is a fragile economy which lacks industry and therefore jobs and disposable income to support the current level of retail.

The council has provided the zoning for new developments to take place which, due to their ability to provide more convenience, have taken consumers away from retailers in the CBD, the main culprit being the Okara centre.

The Okara centre is full of nationally branded retailers that offer the local economy little benefit.

Nationalised retailers provide only low-paying jobs for staff, the profits leave the area. Conversely, small local businesses, such as the majority of those which were in the vacant shops in the CBD, also provide retail jobs but provide other local businesses opportunity as they require support industries such as insurers, accountants, bankers and couriers.

Also, as the profits stay in the city more people will be building houses, dining out, buying boats and cars, while those business also use insurers, accountants bankers etc in a basic flow-on effect.

The council should stop providing zoning for more retail development or it will continue to rip the heart out of the local economy. There is no reason any of the Okara Centre retailers cannot relocate to the CBD, it is purely a function of price, and if they were there, the local retailers would have a geographic chance to compete and there would be a bustling area.

The council has invested millions and millions of rates dollars on improving the CBD and it is not an unattractive outcome. Nevertheless, to allow development elsewhere undermines the investment in a vibrant CBD that people want to visit.

Luckily, there are immediate actions council could take to begin the repair. First is access and car parking; making it cheap and easy for people to shop in the CBD needs to be paramount.

This starts with parking. The current parking costs are council profiteering and penalising CBD retailers.

The council should be providing plentiful, cost-effective parking and if that means building parking buildings that do not turn a profit, so be it.

This is a service to underpin its own investment in the CBD, not a profit-gaining initiative. Perhaps $2 for two hours would be fair? Free parking is a big benefit in other developments that are to blame for the sick CBD. Did the council consider restricting or insisting on car-park charges in these centres?

The second improvement is safety; people (especially older folk) will only shop where they feel safe. The CBD is often full of youths yelling and swearing at each other which can be intimidating, especially after dark.

Accordingly, there needs to be a high level of police presence in the CBD so that troublemakers will quickly move on.

These two simple changes would make a huge difference.

Landlords need to play their part too. Rental rates need to factor in the reduced demand to gain tenants. Landlords will look at previous rentals in envy, but a vacant property offers no return.

As well, the issues of earthquake-strengthening costs are the landlords' alone. A property owner cannot expect a tenant to pay for, directly or indirectly through rental, a property upgrade. It is the owner's investment.

Landlords may also want to consider that the only statutory requirement of earthquake-strengthening is to bring a building to 34 per cent of New Building Standard within 15 years, therefore this is not a problem that needs to be resolved immediately.

-Cam Paterson is originally from Whangarei and has been working in commercial property in Auckland for 10 years.