Bid to upgrade town centre

By Alison Noonan
HAMPTON Park’s town centre is set to undergo a major redevelopment.
Councillors at last week’s Casey council meeting agreed to begin work on a detailed structure plan for the neglected shopping precinct in an attempt to “fix possibly one of the poorestplanned shopping centres in Australia”.
River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith said the structure plan would assist council in guiding future planning decisions.
“This has been longanticipated and will be huge for Hampton Park,” he said.
“The shopping centre is just shocking, certainly the worst in Casey.
“We should take any opportunity to fix it.”
Cr Smith called for the cooperation of traders and business owners in helping to develop a vision for the centre’s image and landscape concept.
“Getting everyone together has been the hardest part,” he said.
“There is a lot of potential here. We just need to tap into it and convince the owners to get on board.”
Myuna Ward councillor Brian Oates agreed, claiming the town centre was not working as well as it could.
“We have the possibility to make it an attractive area and work with the traders to do this,” Cr Oates said.
Coowner of McGoughs Butcher Shaun Riley welcomed the structure plan, stating the shopping centre was “one of the worstlooking shopping centres I’ve ever seen”.
“It desperately needs doing,” Mr Riley said.
“That corner (of Hallam and Somerville Roads) is absolutely shocking.
“I’ve lived here most of my life and I’ve seen it built up from scratch.
“I don’t know what they were thinking when they put it together. It (the design) has never really worked.”
Hampton Park Newsagent employee Chris Clutterbuck said the shopping precinct needed to better cater for the ethnic community.
“There is a very ethnic community here and their needs are very different,” she said.
“A lot of people come in wanting to buy things that the centre just doesn’t cater for.”
The preparation of the structure plan will be overseen by a steering committee and is expected to be completed by October 2006.