Elton Consulting is delighted to announce that our national head of statutory and strategic planning, Jenny Rudolph, will become an owner and director of the company on 1 January 2012.

“Since joining the firm as Associate Director in 2009, Jenny Rudolph has made a major contribution to the growth, development and success of the planning practice in NSW and nationally, and also to the firm more generally,” said Brian Elton, Founder and Managing Director of Elton Consulting.

“I am delighted to welcome her as our first female owner. She will bring a valuable new perspective to the leadership of the company”.

Jenny has more than 20 years’ experience in urban and regional statutory and strategic planning. Since joining Elton Consulting, she has steered major planning projects in New South Wales, the ACT and the Northern Territory. One of the most significant of these has been as lead consultant providing project management and strategic advice on the Greater Darwin Land Use Plan – Towards 2030. This plan will help shape the social, residential and economic growth of the region for the next 15 years.

“I am extremely excited to become a Director of Elton Consulting which has been providing strategic and urban planning services to both the public and private sector for over five of its 22 years. In that time we’ve advised on some very  significant land use planning projects shaping Australia, but we’re still the quiet achiever of the diverse Elton Consulting business. I look forward to increasing  awareness in the market place and growing our services in urban and regional areas across the country”.

Jenny’s extensive experience across the private and public sector has included managing, planning and implementing large projects in the planning and development phase as well as developing planning policies for government. She has advised on multiple land releases and planning pathways through rezonings and major project development applications. A key focus for Jenny and her team  is sustainable and sound development which meets commercial, employment, housing and other targets.

Three Local Aboriginal Land Councils in NSW’s lower Hunter region – Mindarriba, former Koompahtoo (now part of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council) and Bahtabah – own or have submitted Aboriginal land claims for over 7,000 hectares of land, totalling more than 1,000 individual sites.

These significant tracts are located in the Upper and Lower Hunter regional areas, in locations ranging from suburban communities to national parks.

To help navigate this complex land portfolio, the Indigenous Development Corporation (IDC) engaged Elton Consulting to help Local Aboriginal Land Councils better understand the current and future land use potential of their land.

The IDC is a self-funded, economic development company set up in 2010 to help Aboriginal land owners and communities achieve the best possible cultural, social, environmental and economic outcomes.

IDC offers a range of professional services for Local Aboriginal Land Councils, including project management and service co-ordination around land dealings, to help achieve their long term commitment to self sustainability and self determination.

Elton Consulting, over the past two years, has prepared a series of reports to investigate each of the sites, reviewing relevant planning controls, desk top assessment of key site constraints and opportunities as well providing strategic planning recommendations for each site.

The reports found opportunities existed across these sites for long-term conservation, as well as potential residential, commercial and industrial development.

Jenny Rudolph, Associate Director in Statutory and Strategic Planning at Elton Consulting, said the reports had, for the first time, brought together current and future planning details of Local Aboriginal Land Councils’ landholdings in a concise and meaningful way.

“Bringing together a vast amount of detail about many sites into a useable, action-focussed report helps Local Aboriginal Land Councils prioritise their sites, understand their development potential, and, ultimately, plan better for the future of their land,” Jenny said.
“Empowering Local Aboriginal Land Councils to understand the sites they own is a crucial step in helping them exercise their property rights now and into the future. It also provides a direction to future residential and employment opportunities for local communities.”

This desire to empower Indigenous communities is the driving factor behind the Indigenous Development Corporation’s work.

What began as the idea of co-founders Smiley Johnstone and Graeme Foster has quickly become a successful story of helping Indigenous communities unlock the potential of land granted under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983.

“We as Aboriginal people only have one asset and this is land. IDC believes it is only with the professional advice and support of expert planners, such as those at Elton Consulting, that Local Aboriginal Land Councils will be able to realise some of the value of this land asset base to contribute positively to Aboriginal lives in the short and long term,” Mr Johnstone said.

Elton Consulting is continuing to work with the Indigenous Development Corporation to prepare strategic and statutory due diligence reports for several other Local Aboriginal Land Councils across NSW.

Current research shows that, often, the biggest divide facing society is not a gender divide, racial divide, income or technology divide but the generational divide. Councils need to better understand how each generation “thinks, feels and acts”, the synergies and differences between them, and what this means for the way generational groups live and interact within the community.

Parramatta City Council is taking the lead in planning the future of its communities, with a recent study set to inform Council’s decision-making and planning for long-term social, environmental and economic sustainability. Council’s key objective for the study is to increase understanding of the differing attitudes, behaviours and values of generations X, Y and Z in Parramatta, in order to shape future planning and improve the social wellbeing and liveability of the LGA. The study considers three areas: work and study; living (play, recreation and leisure); and sense of belonging (community inclusion and participation).

With a younger population than most local government areas, Parramatta is an ideal case study on how to bridge – and celebrate – generational differences.

Lucy Greig, social researcher at Elton Consulting, said people from different generations can work well together despite their age gaps.

“Our study found that an intergenerational workforce with different values and attitudes to work creates opportunities for personal and business growth, as well as a need for strategies to enhance intergenerational communication and leadership,” Lucy said.

She said an important step in improving communication across generation groups is to promote understanding about differences between younger and older generations.

“Though attributing particular qualities to a whole generation of course involves generalisations, it is important to acknowledge that people are affected by the society in which they spend their formative years – our world plays an important role in shaping our perceptions and behaviours,” Lucy said.

She said Council’s study identified housing affordability, family-friendly workplaces, community building and healthy and active lifestyles as key issues to consider in planning for the future.

“Our study found Generations X, Y and Z are combining work with study, attaining higher levels of education – especially for women – and are increasingly focussing on achieving a good work/life balance,” Lucy said.

She said the biggest point of difference across the three most recent generations is the increasing importance of technology and how it affects home, work and community life.
“People don’t communicate in the same way anymore. Social interaction is increasingly mediated by technology – but that doesn’t mean young people aren’t communicating,” Lucy said.

“Technology use increases from generations X to Z – and is an important skill that can be harnessed in the workforce and beyond.”

Lucy said another generational shift between Baby Boomers and Gen X, as well as later generations, has seen teenage and young adulthood years extended and the ‘age of commitment’ delayed.

“This trend towards ‘teenage life’ may even re-emerge as Gen Xers enter their fifties,” Lucy said.

Through the generations: a snapshot

Generation X (1966-77)

• Currently establishing their careers having entered the workforce in the late 1980s in a climate of economic rationalism and job market insecurity.
• Many have had one or more career change due to the 1990s recession and the recent economic downturn.
• This ‘entrepreneurial generation’ is regarded as having fewer opportunities than the Baby Boomers – a factor which may inspire their creative and driven approach to work and study.

Generation Y (1977-1986)

• Grew up with high rates of family breakup, the internet and social media and high levels of prosperity.
• Highly motivated and educated, many combine work with higher education, and are popular with other generations in the workplace.
• Strongly value close relationships with friends – they are more ‘tribal’, attempting to create surrogate extended families to compensate for instability or dysfunctionality within their own families and using friends to cope with life in an uncertain, unstable world.
• They are ‘fearless of the future’, but for many home ownership is out of reach.

Generation Z (1986-2006)

• Also known as the iGeneration – grew up with mobile phones, computers and the internet, an increased awareness of global social and economic instability and climate change, and a world shaped by 9/11.
• Gen Zs are going into primary school already using the internet and computers and are the most ‘information intensive’ generation of all.
• High levels of technology use means that many Gen Zs have highly developed speed and dexterity, but this is also connected to reduced physical activity and increased childhood obesity.

In August, over 300 civic leaders came together to plan for the future of local government in NSW at an intensive two day workshop held in Dubbo. Organised by the Division of Local Government, Destination 2036 was attended by representatives from every council and regional organisation of councils and most county councils in NSW. The event was unprecedented in scale and reach, offering mayors, general managers and other civic leaders the opportunity to work together to begin developing a long term vision and short term action plan for their sector.

Kim Anson, General Manager at Elton Consulting, led an experienced consultant team to design and facilitate the event. Kim brought more than 18 years’ experience in senior local government roles, including time as general manager of two councils, to this significant task. In addition to Kim, the Elton Consulting team included Rachel Trigg, Robert Mellor, Brendan Blakeley, Deborah Palmer, Steve Rossiter and Georgie Wheadon.

“This event was the first of its kind in NSW. Elton Consulting’s expertise working with local government meant the workshop was carefully planned, successfully run and able to meet its ambitious agenda. It also allowed important issues to be discussed in an open and constructive way,” Kim said.

Extensive preparation, working closely with the Division’s project team, and giving participants the opportunity to have their say at an early stage, ensured the project team understood core issues from the outset. Elton Consulting prepared a research based discussion paper, released to participants ahead of the workshop, together with an online survey completed by over 200 participants. A podcast was also released prior to the event.

“These techniques were about getting participants to think differently about the future of local government and successfully laid the groundwork for two days of intensive consultation,” Rachel Trigg, Elton Consulting local government specialist, said. “It also meant we were able to develop ground rules from the participants’ own hopes and fears for the event, as well as get feedback on elements of a vision statement before the workshop,” Rachel said.

Elton Consulting’s team of seven facilitators led a series of activities, including small workshop sessions structured to ensure discussions included diverse perspectives. Electronic keypads used in plenary sessions allowed participants to give instant feedback on key issues – including a draft vision statement, which 91% of participants supported.

“Achieving such a high level of consensus on local government’s direction is a testament to the importance of involving participants at the earliest stage in large scale engagement processes,” Kim said.

Destination 2036 was the start of a longer change process. The Minister for Local Government, the Hon Don Page MP, attended the workshop and commended its constructive approach towards managing change in the local government sector. Mr Page thanked participants “for working so positively and constructively” and set out his commitment to continue to work together with the sector, stating “now we need to continue down the path together. We need to build on the goodwill and progress we have made”.

After the workshop, other council representatives and community members have had the opportunity to provide input into the suggested actions contained in Elton Consulting’s outcomes report. This document, along with the discussion paper and the latest information about Destination 2036, can be found at here.

eBooks may be heralding the death knell for traditional bookshops but what does the future hold for libraries in the age of the iPad? As this article highlights, while libraries may be highly valued and often well utilised, it’s not enough to maintain the status quo. User expectations are changing and libraries are evolving successfully.

Libraries as a destination

This need to evolve and adapt is well recognised by community planners and the role of libraries is undergoing significant change. While the focus on books and borrowing remains, there is now a much greater emphasis on libraries as a destination for a much wider range of activities. They are increasingly emerging as spaces for lifelong learning, social interaction and community building.

According to Steve Rossiter, who leads Social Planning projects at Elton Consulting, “Libraries are key community places and although there are trends towards the use of technology, they are still seen as a central place for people to meet, gather and interact. When planning community facilities, it is important to consider them in this way”.

“With the increasing privatisation of public space, community facilities like libraries address the communal thirst for places to spend time where you don’t have to spend money”.

The physical planning and design of libraries has changed considerably to reflect this new role. More space is being devoted to leisure, training and cultural activities, storytelling spaces or specialised areas for targeted groups like seniors and young people. Lounges and cafes are also emerging within library spaces to create higher levels of comfort and encourage people to linger.

Library location also helps define its success.  Successful libraries of the future will need to be attractive, highly visible and co-located with retail or other activity generators like schools. They need to be fully accessible, and safe for all users, regardless of age or mobility. Good access to public transport and parking is also key to success.

Different models of delivery

Technology is one key to the future of libraries, with facebook, text messaging, and other means of communication offering new opportunities for flexible delivery, particularly for young people.

Recent libraries research indicates that libraries attracting the largest numbers have developed a non-traditional approach to delivery.  Some but not all of these ideas are increasingly part of library planning in Australia. In the UK, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has come up with the concept of the ‘Ideas Store’. It reframes the library as a one-stop-shop for library, learning and information services. Library services remain at the core of the Ideas Store model but are accompanied by a raft of services for information seeking and skills development. These include DVD and CD collections, adult learning classrooms, open learning centres, public access internet, homework clubs, study space, creche, multimedia, art exhibitions, shops and cafes.

Another example closer to home is Hume City Council in Victoria. Hume has taken a strategic approach to lifelong learning and libraries are at the centre of this vision. The council has developed over 300 learning partnerships in its quest to become a ‘global learning village’. Its flagship ‘Global Learning Centre’ is centrally located within a major shopping precinct. Like the Ideas Store it contains ‘traditional’ library services but is also a hub of learning facilities with conference/learning/meeting facilities and a variety of technology on offer. It also contains exhibition spaces and a cafe. A second Global Learning Centre is also in development with similar facilities and services planned, along with on-site child care.

Community engagement

Leading practice reinforces that it’s not enough just to build great library buildings. What appears to make a difference is how a library reflects and responds to its community’s needs and actively engages people in learning, leisure and development – how they play a role in connecting local people, organisations and services.

Elton Consulting assists councils to develop community facility strategies. Libraries are increasingly featuring as anchor spaces within community hubs within these strategies. And because community facilities are often significant investments for councils, they need to be used by as many people as possible, at all hours of the day.

Elton undertakes research into best practice community facility planning in Australia and overseas.  This research suggests that increased community engagement is a key element in the future of libraries.

Innovative partnerships in outreach and programming have been found to produce significant community benefits. There has been a trend towards libraries playing an important role in community development and in strategies to increase community cohesion and social inclusion. Libraries provide space and resources for all people regardless of ability, socio-economic or cultural background. This is critical because one of the biggest challenges to lifelong learning, capacity building and community engagement is ensuring that those often excluded from the mainstream or least able to afford private provision can participate and benefit.

Libraries tomorrow

There is no one size fits all approach with libraries.  Solutions will need to reflect local needs and aspirations and draw on a range of different delivery modes.

While technology will continue to have a large influence on shaping library services, the desire for spaces to bring people together and express community continues.  This desire for social interaction and community engagement is as key an influence as technology changes in the future planning and design of libraries.

The 2012 London Olympics may come to be known as the green Olympics, with the host city commited to embed sustainability into all its planning. And it has been the responsibility of Dr Gary Cox, to review those green credentials. Gary has just returned to Australia and rejoined Elton Consulting, after completing sustainability assurance reviews of the entire London 2012 Olympic Program for the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012. A public sector expert with wide experience in the UK and Australia, Gary was also policy advisor in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Strategy Unit at the UK Cabinet Office.

“Sustainability assurance is all about verifying whether organisations are delivering on their sustainability commitments” says Dr Cox. “But it’s not about hitting them with a big stick for under-performance. The critical friend role is key – assisting them to do better but also challenging them when their policies are behind the times.”

With transport policy so closely linked to environmental policy, it comes as no surprise that Gary Cox also has significant experience in transport strategy development. He was London Development Agency’s (LDA) strategic lead on transport, representing the LDA on the London Plan’s Transport Advisory Group and Crossrail, London’s new rail infrastructure project. Gary managed economic analysis for the public inquiry into the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge. He also assessed the impacts of the landmark London congestion charge on London SMEs.
Dr Cox is also an economist and Chartered urban and regional planner. He has specialized in managing complex policy negotiations with multiple government and non-government stakeholders. His broad academic background encompasses environmental policy, economics, international development, urban regional planning and international environmental law. He recently completed a Master of Laws in International Environmental Law at the University of London where he was awarded the School of Law prize.

“My big area of legal expertise is property rights to forest carbon. What?! you might say. Well it’s the big area of climate change mitigation being rolled out in a number of tropical developing countries with large forest estates, for example Indonesia and PNG. In the jargon, it’s called reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – REDD for short. It’s a big opportunity to wind back deforestation but in my view has the potential to become a ‘resource curse’ if not managed properly.”

Gary is well known for his writings on social policy, having authored numerous books, journals and published articles and reports throughout his career, including on social impact assessment and planning for healthy communities. He brings a rigorous approach to policy analysis and research that complements his fresh and original thinking.

When Gary was at Eltons in 2005-06, one of his high profile projects was as part of a three member independent panel appointed by the Minister for Planning to assess that the community input into the Sydney desalination plant had been appropriately responded to.

We were very pleased to welcome Gary back to the Elton team in November.

It is complex to bring communities into conversations about major city change. Brian Elton reflects on building community acceptance, support and ownership for more sustainable cities. This article by Nicole Eastaway is adapted from a paper Brian presented to the COAG Reform Council, ‘Building the mandate for change: realising strategic vision in planning for Australian cities’.

Community-driven cities

Communities within cities around Australia articulate in various ways that the strategic vision for our cities has not been translated into positive change in city form.

Approximately 75 per cent of Australia’s residents live in major cities. Creativity and culture flourish in our cities and they underpin the intellectual, technical and economic capital of the nation.

The key drivers that affect many facets of public and private life in 2011 – not least our major cities – include climate change, technology, globalisation, population growth, housing affordability, liveability, peak oil and changing demographics.

Increasingly, key drivers that underpin our city directions are being questioned and challenged by political leaders and commentators, partly in response to perceived public concerns.

This was clear in the collapse of bipartisan support for action on climate change, as well as the major shifts in thinking about the notion of a ‘Big Australia’.

On one hand, the science underpinning these policy directions is being questioned. On the other, political debate is playing an increasing role in unsettling rather than informing and shaping the fundamentals that are driving strategic city change.

Building a mandate to achieve a strategic vision for our cities increasingly requires local communities and their civic leaders to step up into leadership roles, informed by robust debate about the drivers for change at the local level.

The politics of urban planning processes

Planning is increasingly a political process with winners and losers, rather than a process driven by strategic consensus about key requirements for national sustainability and prosperity.

Actual and perceived poor delivery of built-form outcomes and infrastructure provision is a key reason that has lead communities to question major city reform. There is a breakdown of trust.

People are genuinely attached to place, and change in city form thus impacts on and changes places that have important emotional connections for people and underpin the social capital of communities.

In a globalised world where so much seems out of our control, it is at the local level that people feel they still have some capacity to wrest control and ‘make a stand’.

Poor delivery combined with a failure to understand attachment to place and the need for change management processes can mean that any future proposed change is seen in the negative.

Engagement is part of the answer

Communities will support the type of changes required in our cities, and even embrace and advocate it in certain circumstances. This is our direct experience.

Communities want to interrogate the basis for change, influence the vision and direction, protect the best aspects of what they have, and influence the detail of what is proposed to ensure it truly realises the vision. They don’t want over-promising and under delivery.

They want to be an active participant in the journey of change rather than a passive recipient of expert advice about what they must accept for their home, their neighbourhood, their community, their city.

Some planners fear that engagement builds resistance – our experience is different.

A case study – Frasers Central Park, Sydney

The journey that lead to what is now the highly regarded Frasers Central Park project was a long and winding one.

It began with the former owners of the old Kent Brewery in Chippendale securing concept plan approval – which a community member then challenged in the Supreme Court – and ultimately ended with Frasers’ revised concept plan approved in 2009 with a far greater level of stakeholder support.

When Frasers acquired the site in 2007, the company made an early decision to revise the concept plan through a detailed community and stakeholder engagement process. This contributed to the positive outcome.

Together with Elton Consulting, Frasers started immediate and direct communication with local stakeholders such as community groups, local businesses and City of Sydney – who had previously supported the Supreme Court challenge – to understand the issues and concerns surrounding the proposed project.

Central Park is one of the largest urban renewal projects currently underway in Sydney – a mixed use $2 billion development comprising 11 buildings, 1,800 apartments, 16,000 square metres of shops, cafes, restaurants and laneways and 75,000 square metres of office space.

Listening to and meeting with stakeholders enabled Frasers’ award-winning team to develop a new concept plan committed to community building and cultural, social and environmental sustainability.

Key lessons

The Frasers experience is one of many in which Elton Consulting has been involved.

Our experience shows governments, public and private sectors and not-for-profit developers can succeed in building the case towards a mandate for change, even in a contested context, when they are active in processes that:

Communicate the strategic vision as well as the specifics of a proposal. They should also be prepared to engage in dialogue as to why alternatives or “easy options” are not possible

Acknowledge the very strong emotional attachments people have to where they live and give this attachment a legitimate place in discussion and planning.

Build trust in the planning process and in the capacity of government to deliver infrastructure – through a commitment to better governance and engagement with communities. Generate faith that developers can deliver what governments and planners promise.

Demonstrate that on-the-ground results can generate sustainable and quality development within a commercial framework.

One of Elton’s Consulting’s rising stars, Samantha Czyz, confronts the issue of affordable housing for sale in her dissertation for the University of Sydney.

Samantha Czyz, Consultant at Elton Consulting, recently graduated from her Masters of Urban and Regional Planning having examined one of the greatest challenges facing Australian cities – affordable housing for sale.

With the level of home ownership gradually declining across Australia, Samantha’s dissertation is a timely one.

“Owning your own home is still very much part of the Australian psyche. It’s a real dream for a lot of people, but that dream is getting further and further out of reach,” Samantha said.

Dr Tony Gilmour, Project Manager at Elton Consulting who co-supervised Samantha’s dissertation, said the affordable housing market for first time buyers was particularly tight.

“This is arguably a market that is failing in Australia, with major consequences for a new generation who are unable to purchase their own homes,” Tony said.

“In turn, this places further pressure on rental accommodation, with moderate income households crowding out lower socio-economic groups from finding affordable rental properties.”

Samantha’s research considered the case of Crace in the ACT to investigate whether planning systems can help create more affordable housing.

Crace, a new community located about eight kilometres from Canberra’s CBD, is one of the major greenfield developments in the city.

Samantha said developer CIC Australia’s forward-thinking approach, coupled with government policy initiatives and partnering with a community housing provider, made possible the delivery of affordable places to buy and rent in Crace.

The ACT Government’s Affordable Housing Action Plan 2007 required 15 per cent of housing blocks in Crace, as a new greenfield estate, to be affordable.

The policy has since been revised and now a minimum of 20 per cent of blocks are required to be set aside for affordable housing in new developments.

This policy and a grant from the Federal Government Housing Affordability Fund in 2010 were drivers of affordable housing sales in Crace.

“Without any policy intervention, more than likely the housing in Crace would have been expensive, given its central location in Canberra,” she said.

Instead, by October 2010, 107 affordable houses in Crace had been sold for average price of $311,000.

This compares with Canberra’s median house price of $550,000 as at March 2010 – the second highest median house price of all other Australian capital cities, just behind Sydney.

38 per cent were sold to first home buyers, with a further 58 per cent bought by CHC Affordable Housing to provide affordable rental housing to eligible low income earners.

Purchase of the affordable homes was not restricted on the basis of income.

“Planning policy approaches in South Australia and the Northern Territory take a different approach and do require a certain percentage of affordable homes to be placed on the market for sale specifically for eligible income earners, which is a more targeted approach,” she said.

Further research could demonstrate the long term implications of these different approaches.

Dr Tony Gilmour said Samantha’s work has helped build knowledge on affordable housing for sale, traditionally an under-researched area.

“Affordable rental has been well studied in Australia, though there has been little written about affordable house sales,” Tony said.

Tony said Samantha’s research findings, which they plan to publish in industry journal ‘Housing Works’, would be of interest across Australia.

“If we are to introduce new planning policies on affordable housing, these need to be informed by research such as Samantha’s dissertation,” he said.

“Her research has built knowledge for Australia, as well as showcasing Sam as a rising star. We are lucky to have her as part of the Elton Consulting team.”

For more information on Elton Consulting’s affordable housing services and publications, please visit our website or contact Dr Tony Gilmour at tony@elton.com.au

The City of Palmerston Council, in partnership with Elton Consulting, is delivering leading urban planning outcomes in the Northern Territory with a master plan to guide development in a strategic city centre over the next 15 years.

Located 21 kilometres southeast of Darwin – close the two major industrial areas of Darwin Pinelands and Yarrawonga – Palmerston is one of the fastest growing cities in the Northern Territory.

The City of Palmerston Council engaged Elton Consulting to lead an expert team of architects, urban designers, traffic consultants and statutory planners to develop a master plan for the city centre.

As well as project managing the master plan process, Elton Consulting provided strategic and statutory planning advice and will lead the plan’s implementation.

Ricki Bruhn, Chief Executive of Palmerston City Council, said Palmerston now has a roadmap to creating an efficient and attractive city.

“The master plan envisages a city centre that will be a vibrant, tropical and lush place, connecting a mix of spaces, coming together to make Palmerston a unique destination,” Mr Bruhn said.

And, he said, with a variety of developments in the surrounding area, including the expansion of Charles Darwin University Village, the time was right to plan for the growing city’s future.

“This is an opportunity to create a more sustainable and functional city centre for Palmerston. The master plan will support and guide the city’s rapid growth in a positive direction, establishing retail, commercial and entertainment precincts,” Mr Bruhn said.

Jenny Rudolph, Elton Consulting’s Associate Director of Strategic and Statutory Planning said the team used best practice town centre development principles to set a new direction for planning the Palmerston city centre.

“The process was balanced and exhaustive ensuring the outcome was a master plan that can be used as a framework for revitalising development and redevelopment in Palmerston’s city centre,” Jenny said.

She said the master plan aimed to respond to existing traffic, parking and connectivity issues in Palmerston and to revitalise the city centre with new residential, retail and entertainment facilities.

“Our goal was to foster a sense of community in a clean, safe, friendly and sustainable environment and to support and nurture the lifestyle of residents and visitors,” Jenny said.

“The master plan’s mission was to manage and promote diversity through innovation and excellent experiences for the Palmerston community.”

The main elements of the master plan included:

• An identity for Palmerston that is diverse, connected and sustainable
• A vibrant city centre heart featuring the iconic water tower as a meeting place and location of a public park – to formalise the public domain
• A clear, interconnected urban structure that responds to existing traffic and parking issues
• Public transport and pedestrian networks integrated with houses
• Revitalised retail offerings, with boutique shops, cafes and restaurants – creating jobs and a more vibrant culture and nightlife.

Mr Bruhn said the master plan would be refined through consultation with businesses and the community, ahead of its implementation and inclusion in the Northern Territory planning scheme.