WILLOUGHBY City Council (WCC) have recently commenced the street scape on Hampden Road, Artarmon. The $8 million project began in late March, as part of the Artarmon Local Centre Public Domain Masterplan.

Willoughby City Council have adopted a long-term strategy to achieve a greener, more inclusive, liveable, and prosperous city, as outlined in the Council’s Community Strategic Plan. This will lead to Masterplans for eight local centres within the Willoughby LGA; including Artarmon, Northbridge, North Willoughby, Willoughby South, Penshurst Street, High Street, Castlecrag, and Naremburn.

‘Public spaces are the heart of our communities. This rejuvenation will deliver a green, welcoming hub, where the community can come together and enjoy everything Artarmon has to offer,’ said Mayor Tanya Taylor.

The Artarmon Centre upgrade will focus on Hampden Road – installing a signalised interaction to achieve calmer traffic, upgrading parking adjacent to the railway line, while also creating a terraced seating area, new paving for pedestrians, an amenities block, and new shrubbery and street trees.

However, businesses along Hampden Road are experiencing difficulty with the streetscape construction.

‘Businesses are down,’ says Valerio Domenici, owner of Zucchero Caffe Bar, and Treasurer for Artarmon Village Incorporated. ‘It has killed a lot of passing trade. Our business is down about 25 per cent. The streetscape is going to be lovely when it’s done. In the meantime, businesses will have a lot of pain.’

In a news release from WCC, Mayor Taylor is quoted, ‘While these works are underway, Council will be working hard to support local businesses, and encourages the local community to continue to support our much-loved Artarmon traders.’

To this, Valerio responds, ‘They’ve offered support through their liaison officer, Jessica Bain. She’s been wonderful… representing our concerns. [Willoughby City Council] have run a program, Love Your Locals. Council is offering 50 dollars a week in loyalty credit that people can win, and choose a shop to use the voucher in. That’s a good initiative by Council and the APA.’

The main concerns with the Hampden Road streetscape for businesses and residents are the lack of meaningful consultation, limited parking, and belief that the requests and suggestions of locals are not being considered in the plans to better Artarmon.

‘The noise that I am getting, from residents and businesses, is that there wasn’t enough consultation,’ says Valerio Domenici. ‘Willoughby Council will say there was consultation, but realistically, there wasn’t much consultation prior to creating the works.’

Artarmon Village Incorporated (AVI) note in their position statement on the plans for Artarmon village, ‘The style of the plans seems to indicate they have been done by an architectural or design consultancy with little knowledge of commercial shopping strip needs.’

Further into the statement, the AVI state, regarding the redesign of the Artarmon Village Green, ‘We request a revised plan to show exactly how this space can be used for performance space and opportunity for regular market stalls. The previous plans are inadequate and if they remain the current plans, our sensible needs are not being met.’

In the Local Centres Strategy for Artarmon in 2020, key recommendations for the growth of Artarmon include a blending of commercial and residential buildings along Hampden Road, communal roof gardens, access to basement parking from Hampden Lane, and 4 to 5 storey buildings fronting Hampden Lane. It is not clear when or if these recommended features will be developed.

‘Parking is the biggest issue,’ continues Valerio Domenici. ‘We didn’t have a lot of parking before, we have less now. They could have managed that better.’ These zoned areas for cars are subject to change positions as each stage of the project progresses. Council stipulates that during the disruption, temporary parking spaces and kiss and ride zones are to be provided, and drop-off areas will allow access to shops and the train station.

The Post have reached out to Willoughby City Council for comment. At the time this article is being published, Willoughby City Council have not provided a response.