Lagoon Basin vistas for Panmure

The Panmure community is examining ways to redesign their main street to accentuate views of the suburb’s lagoon basin.

Councillor, Sheryl McKelvie, who opened a public meeting on the Panmure town centre’s future on Tuesday night says Auckland City and the Panmure community were looking at ways to find “the heart of Panmure.”

The public meeting was the second in a series of three “design enquiry” meetings held as part of the Panmure Liveable Communities Plan for its town centre and open spaces.

“The design enquiry process is the first step in our action plan for Panmure. The process is strongly orientated around having the community directly involved in all stages of the design of the town centre and its surrrounding open spaces,” Councillor McKelvie says.

The community have suggested opening up Panmure’s mainstreet, Queens Road, for access to the lagoon basin.

“This concept would look at accentuating the main shopping strip and tying a feature shopping area into the connection between the town centre and basin. This would act to solidify the shopping area and create an identifiable heart for Panmure.”

Councillor McKelvie says the concept could be further developed by connecting the town centre to the lagoon basin by a pedestrian walkway.

“It would then be possible to extend this again by creating a lagoon promenade around the basin. The first two community meetings have seen the development of some exciting possibilities for Panmure.

“Working from a broad conceptual overview, healthy community feedback has created concepts for accessibility through parks and streetscapes to not only Panmure’s lagoon basin but also the mountain and the river. The community is keen to stress just how unique these features are.”

Future plans for town centres could only be created by communities working with their Council, says Councillor McKelvie.

“Panmure is a marvellous example of the community moving forward with Auckland City. We are very grateful to the Panmure Community Action Group in this regard.

“This group provides good modelling for other community groups. Without their help we could not have stimulated the passion for Panmure that currently exists. “

The last public meeting is to be held on Tuesday, October 1, 7pm, at the Panmure Community Centre. The meeting will seek community involvement to develop final concept plans for Panmure’s town centre and open spaces.

The plans will be available for public inspection at the Panmure Library for a week to allow further comment. Following final amendments the plans will then be submitted to Auckland City’s councillors.

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