It is time to reopen the Maitland Mall

Media Release - 14 August 2008

By Kellie Tranter

Pedestrian malls boomed during the 1980s, but they turned out to be an 80’s fad. Closing off city centres cut off their lifeblood; as they withered and died, shopping centres replaced them and the focus turned away from the sense of community.  A lot of Councils, particularly in country towns, recognised what had been lost and acted to correct what they realised was a mistake.  Ours hasn't.

Malls all over the country have been converted back to combined pedestrian and vehicular traffic, in urban centres like Penrith, Fairfield, Blacktown and Bankstown, and country towns from Wellington to Coffs Harbour.   As in Maitland, some local opponents expressed concerns about crime, cost, trader concerns and safety, but the councils "grasped the nettle"; the common end result has been revitalised centres with reduced crime and anti-social behaviour, improved turnover for traders and a dramatic decrease in vacant sites.

Parramatta City Council reopened its Church Street Mall to a one-way traffic lane.  It describes the result as "keeping the mall lively day and night continuing the vibe....".    In March last year Murray Lee, a criminologist at the University of Western Sydney, said making malls busier by reintroducing traffic could make them safer because when a place is busy there is more "natural surveillance".   

Sound pretty obvious? It does to me.  It all comes down to activity: the more human habitats buzz with activity, the more they feel alive, and the more attractive they are to more people.  Of course, breathing life back into an area is a chicken and egg situation, but the sooner we start resuscitating the sooner we are likely to see the spark of life.

What has our Council done about reopening Maitland Mall? It seems to have been under consideration for years, with consultancy reports here and there, but nothing happening.  Sooner rather than later the talk must end and a decision must be made.   Sure, the results of Council's Central Maitland Structure Plan may provide more, important data, but isn't the fairly universal success of other towns and cities in reopening malls across the country enough to warrant a punt on reopening ours?