places and spaces

PILLAR 3 ACTIVE AND ACCESSIBLE PLACES AND SPACES

This pillar is about improving accessibility and transport connections for our community and creating a range of active and passive recreation facilities for everyone to enjoy.

The goals in this pillar are:

• Goal 3.1: The LGA has a range of transport options to connect people, goods and businesses • Goal 3.2: Roads, footpaths and cycleways are safe, accessible, and free of congestion • Goal 3.3: Everyone, including people with disability, navigates the LGA in safety • Goal 3.4: Everyone has access to a range of active and passive recreation facilities.

Achievements

• Our Hurstville Revitalisation Project commenced, a city-shaping project involving innovative public domain improvements in four key locations in the

Hurstville City Centre. • We installed a large mural at Post Office Lane in

Kogarah in December 2020 to increase amenity for pedestrians. The mural is an acknowledgement of

Biddegal country and makes reference to Kogarah as ‘Place of Reeds’, as well as more broadly referencing the Georges River. • GoGet car share trial in Kogarah and Hurstville saw 10 dedicated bays across both centres, helping to promote sustainable forms of transport. • $415,000 and $50,000 grants were received for

Hurstville and Kogarah respectively to activate the centres under the Streets as Shared Spaces program. We also received $4.75 million to implement public domain improvements in Hurstville under the NSW Public Spaces Legacy program. • We converted 13 streets and laneways in the

Kogarah Town Centre to 40 km/h zones. • We received $200,000 in grant funding for the

Hurstville Library Sensory Garden, to facilitate relaxation, reduce stress and anxiety, assist emotion regulation and promote greater wellbeing for the community, in particular for those with disabilities, mental health concerns and the elderly. • Two new pieces of public art were completed at Peakhurst Park and Pole Depot Park using recently installed table tennis tables. The tables have brought a vibrancy to the parks and the small animal characters were done in collaboration with

Headspace. • Georges River libraries now offer a range of state-ofthe-art digital technology, available both for in-house use and for loan from its freshly minted Media Lab in

Hurstville Library. The Media Lab meets community demand for digital technology and enables skill development on equipment that can otherwise be prohibitively expensive. Residents can participate more fully in digital culture and is a welcome addition to the local innovation ecosystem. Facilities include a full photographic studio featuring a cyclorama wall, green screen and lighting; Microsoft Surface Studio

PCs with Adobe Creative Suite; a sound booth/ music practice room with a selection of instruments, including an 88-key upright digital piano; a 3D-printer; and a range of technology to support creative projects and digital media production. • Recognising a shift in user expectations towards increased convenience, personalisation and experience, the Library team has partnered with our Early Learning Services to deliver library materials to families enrolled at the Oatley West

Early Learning Centre. The new ‘LibraryGo’ service began with consulting parents to establish their child’s reading likes, dislikes and to identify specific child development areas that can be addressed with materials from the library’s collections. Since its inception in October 2020, LibraryGo has delivered more than 4,000 library items to 57 children attending the centre. Over 15 letters of appreciation

for the service have already been received, with parents recognising the value of library staff expertise in supporting their child’s early learning experience. • We designed, installed, and maintained seven community street libraries across the local government area. • More than 90 per cent of child placements were filled across all our early learning centres.

Challenges

• We were unsuccessful in our application for $1 million of funding under the NSW Government’s ‘Your

High Street' program for the revitalisation of Belmore

Road, Riverwood. • We experienced a delay in the Hurstville

Revitalisation Project in relation to the Palm Court car park conversion into open space due to need

to find additional parking nearby to accommodate those who still wish to travel to the centre via car. • With limited opportunities to deliver new open spaces across the LGA, we envisaged that a memorandum of understanding between Council and the Department of Education to share their assets could mean school spaces could be shared by the wider community outside of school hours.

However, we have experienced challenges in identifying these opportunities and negotiating the arrangements. • Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the capacity limits and available space for the community was reduced including seating spaces in the libraries, access to meeting rooms, Justice of the Peace services, etc.

This impacted the quality of the service experience for the community needing to use our spaces.

Summary of performance against indicators

Measure

Civil design for private works completed within timeframe.

Maintain the asset renewal ratio above industry benchmarks

Percentage of utility restorations completed within timeframe advised

Percentage of depot jobs completed against works scheduled. Target 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21

90% N/A 95% 95% 96% 99%

>100% 115% 77% 92% 92% 83%

80% Indicator not created in 2016/17 80% 84% 96% 98%

80% N/A N/A N/A 100% 100%

In 2021/22 we will …

• Continue the rollout of the Streets as Shared Spaces project in Hurstville which will see temporary public domain improvements and activations until the end of 2021. • Commence construction on permanent public domain improvements at MacMahon Courtyard and the conversion of Palm Court car park into open space. • Progress the second phase of the revitalisation of Memorial Square and Forest Road to detailed designs for tender and construction. • Install new wayfinding signage in the Kogarah and Hurstville City Centres. • Implement electronic vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the LGA to support uptake. • Prepare a library business case and demand analysis toward building a new 2,500 m2 library to serve western half of the LGA. • Prepare a library business case and demand analysis toward transforming current branch libraries into spaces that are more flexible for programming and community use. • Refurbish Hurstville Library for flexible use and deliver a dynamic library space that responds to community needs. • Implement the Aboriginal Spaces in Library Places Strategy. • Conduct and implement outcomes of feasibility study to harmonise library opening hours. • Provide opportunities for the community to engage with the library through outreach and online services. • Establish a reading and sensory garden at Hurstville Library that includes space for community environmental and sustainability education.

Pop-up Park Kogarah funded by Department of Planning, Industry and Environment - Streets as Shared Spaces.