PROJECT STAGES

PREFERRED OPTION: 

FORESHORE LAYOUT STAYS THE SAME WITH TWO-WAY TRAFFIC AND NO LOSS OF CAR PARKS ON THE FORESHORE.

We understand that of late, residents have been wondering what’s happening with the Port Campbell Town Centre Project.  While there was a burst of activity last year with a lot of community feedback on the concepts - particularly the bold proposal to close Cairns Street along the foreshore - the project has been relatively quiet since late 2018. 

In this time we have been back and forth with the design team, have sought independent advice from the Victorian Design Review Panel, and in truth, have wrestled with a way forward. This project was never going to be rushed, and it was never going to be straight-forward or easy. We have listened. The foreshore area will remain largely the same with two-way traffic and no loss of car parks. Now we have reached a stage where the project needs to move ahead.

Community ideas and input into the first concepts included a ‘wider town’ with connected walking loops between the town centre and headlands; more pedestrian space and seating under the Norfolk pines; better linkages, clearer pedestrian crossings; and creating a ‘town green’ feeling on the foreshore. 

The concept plan we are presenting now as the ‘preferred option’ is a good balance of what the community has told us it wants (of car parking and road layouts), and a move to transform the town centre into a destination that encourages visitors to walk and spend more time enjoying the town, while allowing locals their conveniences and easy access to the parts of Port Campbell they love the most. 

We want locals genuinely invested in this project, after all, locals are the ones who have to live with it. The feedback on the overall concepts, to date, has been impassioned and varied (except for the clear message on Cairns Street and the foreshore). Thank you to residents for getting involved and having a say. At the same time, streetscape projects can be divisive. Hard decisions have to be made. Everyone has different opinions, motivations and interests, and not everyone will be completely happy with all the proposed changes. To do nothing is not an option in the face of visitor numbers to the town doubling over the next decade and the streetscape currently looking and functioning the way it does.

We encourage you to have a look at the ‘preferred option’ concept and keep up-to-date with the project here.

KEY POINTS:

CAIRNS STREET / FORESHORE AREA / TREGEA STREET

1. Cairns Street stays the same - two-way traffic and no loss of car parks on the foreshore.

2. The foreshore area will be landscaped to include a natural amphitheatre opposite 12 Rocks Cafe. 

3. New forecourt feature in front of the Surf Club with a pathway to the Campbell’s Creek Swing Bridge to run behind the building.  

4. Tregea Street will gain seven car parks. Angled parking will remain.

LORD STREET

1. Decking will be extended under the Norfolk pines on Lord Street to allow more space to sit, eat and view the bay, while protecting the Norfolks.

2. Pathways, decking, pedestrian crossings, trees and street furniture will all be upgraded (finer details e.g. materials, species and designs to be confirmed at later planning stages).

3. The Lord Street / Cairns Street roundabout will be replaced with clear pedestrian crossings.

4. Buses will be directed down Morris Street, to park in Lord Street next to the Parks Victoria office. From here passengers can access the new toilets at the Public Purpose Reserve and will be channelled down Lord Street. 

5. Lord Street will be pedestrianised and safer, creating an environment that encourages people to walk more. Vehicle movement will slow and the town centre will be ideal for people to peruse the shops, cafes and restaurants on their way to the beach and foreshore area. 

6. All car parks along central Lord Street will be converted to parallel. Some parking will be timed 15-30 minutes to guide day visitors to other areas and allow locals to grab their mail, bread and milk. The conversion to parallel means there will be a loss of 11 car parks in central Lord Street, but still offer 74.

7. There will be a loss of three car parks in the Fisherman’s Car Park.

TOP OF TOWN

1. The roundabout at the top of Morris Street will be replaced with a turn-off to the Old Great Ocean Road. This will encourage visitors to access the town centre via Morris Street.

2. An upper Cairns Street car park (24 parks) will encourage day visitors to ‘Park and Walk’ into the town centre via the headland. The short walk will be part of the future ‘Twelve Apostles Trail’ and will include coastal lookouts before walking down past Beacon and getting that sense of arrival upon seeing Port Campbell bay. The upper Cairns car park is designed to be used by visitors from the Twelve Apostles with directional signage placed at the eastern entrance to Port Campbell, encouraging people to walk and reducing congestion in the town centre.

3. Long vehicle car parking (12 parks) will cater for buses and caravans.

4. A surfer’s viewing car park will allow locals to continue to check the surf from that clifftop point.

Car Park Count

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR...

MAY 2017 Corangamite Shire allocated $1 million in the 2017-2018 Budget towards the Port Campbell Town Centre Improvement Project.

JUNE 2017 Fifteen residents nominated to be part of a Community Reference Group (CRG) chaired by Coastal Ward Councillor Simon Illingworth. A Project Control Group with representatives from Parks Victoria, Regional Development Victoria, Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism and Twelve Apostles Tourism and Business Association was also formed to provide project input and advice.

AUGUST 2017 Hansen Partnership and Terroir were appointed to lead the conceptual and detailed design stages.

OCTOBER 2017 A two-day design workshop was held in Port Campbell. This is where the designers (Hansen Partnership) held ‘ideas and directions’ sessions with the Project Control Group and the Community Reference Group. Members of the community were also invited to a drop-in session to discuss ideas and local priorities.

DECEMBER 2017 The Community Reference Group called an additional public meeting which heard more ideas for the proposed concepts.

JANUARY 2018 A set of initial concept plans, ideas and sketches was completed and circulated for comment between 10 January to 12 February. A public information session was held at the Artspace and plans were displayed online and at different points in Port Campbell. Residents were invited to have their say by completing a survey.

MARCH 2018 Council received 153 responses to the survey. 98% of responses were from local residents. Council officers and the design team met with the Project Control Group and Community Reference Group to present findings.

JULY 2018 With the Cairns Street / Foreshore area a sticking point, four different design options for this area were circulated for community feedback from 10 July to 3 August. Residents were invited to have their say by completing a survey. Council received 107 survey responses.

AUGUST 2018 A petition of 271 signatures was presented at the Council meeting. It proposed to “Keep the Port Campbell foreshore accessible to everyone by retaining the current amount of car parks along the foreshore and ensure the continuation of two-way traffic,” as a fifth option for consideration.

The Victorian Design Review Panel independently reviewed the Port Campbell Town Improvement Project and provided advice to Corangamite Shire.

NOW 

FEBRUARY 2019 The preferred concept plan, where two-way traffic movement on Cairns Street and all foreshore parking is retained, is now available for the community to view and will be presented at the next Council Meeting to be held Tuesday 26 March, 7 pm at the Port Campbell Surf Lifesaving Club.

WHY

With international day trips to the Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell forecast to double by 2025, the two tiers of Government funding some big projects in the Shipwreck Coast Master Plan (eg. new lookouts at the Saddle and Blowhole, Port Campbell swing bridge) and major private sector investment, the time is right to transform the town centre into something that looks good and works well for pedestrians and motorists, locals and visitors. 

Port Campbell is a unique stopping point to touch the grass, sand and ocean in the heart of the Shipwreck Coast. 

The town provides the only safely ‘patrolled’ beach between Apollo Bay and Warrnambool. We want the type of visitors who stay longer and spend time experiencing what Port Campbell and surrounds has to offer. 

Try picturing what Port Campbell and surrounds will look like in 10 years' time. 

There will likely be a Visitor Experience Centre with a restaurant out at Glenample, a resort and hot springs at Booringa Road, and the Twelve Apostles Trail will wind its way from the Twelve Apostles into Port Campbell. Hikers and cyclists will join the bus and car loads of visitors that come to Port Campbell, with trailheads at the top of town and near the Surf Club where you will be able to cross the swing bridge and keep going to Timboon for icecream and strawberries. Locals will be able to use these trails to walk around town or ride their bikes safely out to Loch Ard Gorge / Twelve Apostles.

How do we make Port Campbell a high-quality and safe public space? 

A key issue for many towns, not least Port Campbell, is the convergence of pedestrians and cars. There is a global movement towards pedestrianising town centres and cities to make them more liveable and to encourage people to walk more. Not only is it good for the environment, it’s good for our health. One of the reasons visitors already walk along the street is that they’re used to pedestrianised environments.

One of the aims of the Town Centre Project is to pedestrianise Port Campbell, still allowing for cars, but slowing traffic and encouraging pedestrian movement. In the future, large buses will not belong in the centre of town. They will be directed down Morris Street, allowing passengers to disembark near the Parks Victoria office, access the new toilets at the tennis courts, and safely wander down Lord Street to the beach.

Converting the existing angle parking in Lord Street to parallel parking will mean there are wider footpaths for pedestrians, cyclists and outdoor trading options for local businesses. Timed parking outside Port Campbell Shopping will still allow locals to pop in for their mail, bread and milk.  Cairns Street (along the foreshore) will continue to be two way and foreshore parking will be retained, as per the community’s request.

From Corangamite Shire’s perspective, the revised concept have acknowledged community feedback and it’s time to move forward. We are still excited about how this project will transform the town centre and hope you can see the long-term vision and rationale behind some of the changes.  

Keep up-to-date with this project here.

WHAT NEXT

This revised concept plan will be presented as the preferred option at the Council Meeting, Tuesday 26 March, 7 pm at the Port Campbell Surf Lifesaving Club. At this meeting, Councillors will be asked to adopt the concept plan to move the project forward.

Please click here to view the agenda for the March Council Meeting This agenda contains the Port Campbell Town Centre Report and its recommendations.

You can still have your say by making a deputation at this Council meeting. Deputations (or presentations) to Council must not exceed five minutes each, although Councillors may ask questions after each presentation. Councillors may consider your deputation in their decision-making.

If you wish to make a deputation, please contact Penny MacDonald on 5593 7113 by 5 pm, Monday 25 March.

If adopted by Council, the project will move to the schematic design, where finer details such as pavement width, street furniture and tree placement are decided. More community consultation will occur at later design phases. The Port Campbell Town Centre Project will be delivered in stages and see up to $10 million invested into the town. It is hoped that stage one construction will start in the 2020-2021 financial year (dependent upon funding).