Newcastle City Council has released plans to improve dilapidated park land at the west end of King Street and create a more attractive gateway to the CBD.
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The plans include a revamped Birdwood Park, landscaping in front of the older section of Marketown and tree planting along Parry Street, which could host outdoor markets.
The draft West End Public Domain Plan, devised by urban design firm Urbis, will be placed on public exhibition after gaining support from councillors on Tuesday night.
Birdwood Park sits next to a $43 million apartment tower for seniors, $26 million Holiday Inn hotel, childcare centre and medical centre all under construction in Little King Street.
It has been largely unused for many years, but the west end plan places it as the central open space of the city's “future CBD”.
The park could include an outdoor café, pedestrian plaza and green space for civic and cultural events, such as an outdoor cinema.
Birdwood Park was the scene of one of the city’s most famous protests, the “Battle of Birdwood”, when Abu, a circus elephant, was drafted in to help stop council excavators clearing trees for roadworks in 1973.
Little Birdwood Park, now a regular hangout for homeless people on the other side of King Street, would be expanded, landscaped and integrated into Marketown shopping centre.
The changes would “address anti-social behaviour that has long plagued the area” and allow Marketown to open onto the park.
“Birdwood Park and its surrounds will become the heart of the future West End CBD,” lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said in a statement.
“I encourage everyone in the community to have their say on this project, which is so important to the city's future.”
Other ideas in the plan include a “formal avenue of shade trees”, high-quality outdoor furniture, smart-pole lighting with WiFi and better pedestrian and bike connections to the Newcastle Interchange and Honeysuckle.
The council has also adopted the Wickham Master Plan to support increased residential density and generate more economic activity in a recognised growth area.
The master plan recognises that the suburb contains a “readily available supply of larger former industrial sites that, although potentially requiring decontamination, lend themselves to supporting substantial development”.
It includes centralised parking stations and timed, paid on-street parking throughout the suburb to alleviate parking problems in an area popular with city office workers.
