Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the Lakemba Town Centre Upgrades project. Council appreciates the thoughtful and constructive feedback provided by the community, which will now help inform a concept design for upgrades in the town centre.

The summary below provides details about the consultation and the feedback we received from the community.

What we did

The consultation took place in four weeks throughout April and included:

• Online Have Your Say website and survey
• Flyer mailed to 2,200 residents and businesses
• Community Pop-up in Lakemba Town Centre
• Social media

What we heard

A summary of feedback received is provided below, with the following themes emerging:

• Very strong support for more greenspace, landscaping and trees. Responses indicated support for more green space and street beautification with landscaping, as well as trees to increase shade and liveability, particularly along key pedestrian routes.
• Strong support for improved lighting for safety and visibility, as well as ambient lighting including tree lighting.
• Calls for more seating and furniture in public areas and parks to provide benches, shaded seating areas and tables to improve public spaces and promote community gathering.
• Strong support for pedestrian improvements such as safer crossings, footpath upgrades, and better accessibility.
• While there was less emphasis on public art, comments indicated support for injections of art and colour that enlivened the area as well as content that reflected the areas’ identity.
• While there was less emphasis on signage and wayfinding, some comments noted more signage could allow people to orient themselves, bring attention to carparking and make the space more welcoming.

Other feedback we received included:

• Strong community pride in Lakemba’s cultural and religious heritage and role in hosting annual Ramadan events.
• An emphasis on the requirement for cleanliness, waste and ongoing maintenance.
• Parking and traffic concerns in respect to parking, traffic calming measures and pedestrian safety issues.

Next steps

We’re now working on through the development of a concept design for upgrades in Lakemba Town Centre. Once complete, we’ll share the concept design for community comment.

Follow the project to receive future updates.