Town centre cannot take place of shopping plaza

I refer to page one of Peninsula News on July 26 and the false belief Woy Woy town centre can compete with Deepwater Plaza's retail attractions.

The situation is an exact smaller version of the situation that shop owners face in Gosford, competing against the especially designed centre of Erina Fair.

Cosmetic planning decisions to singularly improve Woy Woy's centre, will not change consumers support of retailers in Deepwater Plaza.

The enormous planning challenge is to upgrade Woy Woy town centre to a standard that will attract customers from Deepwater Plaza.

The cost to carry out this cosmetic upgrade is beyond the financial resources of all those concerned.

Development of Woy Woy's town centre will be assessed according to the Council's assessment practice.

Each submitted application will have the proponents desired returns, not necessarily in line with retailers and residents.

The matter becomes more complicated as the nearby transport hub expands in line with population increase.

It's farcical to believe Woy Woy town centre will replace Deepwater Plaza as the retail centre of the Peninsula.

This proves that the Council's sale of assets to assist retailers in Woy Woy town centre was hastily decided without the required research and investigation.

Residents were outraged by Administrator Persson's support of this fire sale decision.

An example of the best that can be achieved is the extension to the library, which involved lengthy discussion with the Council's Environmental Heritage Advisory Committee.

It will be years before the council can propose with confidence changes to WWTC.

A strong resident voice is essential to counter the council's disastrous planning and development decisions.

SOURCE:

Letter, 29 Jul 2021

Norm Harris, Umina