More places to meet, less cars

The aim of the new design for Lords Place is to make new places for people to meet, creating attractive locations where people can spend time with each other.

Spaced along the block, near current eateries, eight raised platforms will be installed, alongside the footpaths creating spaces for café tables and chairs. Depending on their locations, the platforms are of different sizes.

As well as the dining areas, there are nine ‘open-space’ areas along the block. Another opportunity for meeting up, these areas will feature outdoor furniture under new trees and other shade structures.

The changes will deliver space for around 50 dining tables and around 120 seats and benches.

Currently, Lords Place South is all about cars. It’s a busy street to drive through, a place to park before visiting a nearby shop, and driving away again.

The aim behind this design is to switch the focus of Lords Place to become a place where people feel comfortable to walk around and spend time in.

The main changes:

• Narrowing the space available for driving to two 2.25 metre lanes and lowering the speed limit to 40 kms/hour
• Encouraging people to park away from the block by reducing the amount of on-street parking from 67 spaces to 44 spaces.

Council is looking at options to deal with this loss of parking. These include:

• Shortening parking limits to encourage more turnover
• Changing parking time limits in the Ophir car park to create more parking turnover in the surrounding area
• Creating drop-off and pick-up zones for businesses
• Introducing time-zoned short-term parking at key take-away food pick-up times

Council has identified the Ophir Car Park as the site for a possible multi-storey car park. Continue will continue to evaluate this project, but it is not within the scope of this project.