Fear of Summer Street ghost town if new planning zones are enacted

June 9, 2022

The Greengate shopping centre. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

By Peter Holmes

The nightmare scenario goes something like this.

First, the Greengate shopping centre on the corner of Woodward and Prince streets, and the properties surrounding it, are snapped up by developers, who are now able to build a shopping centre equal in size to the one in North Orange.

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The same happens at the Alpine shopping centre on the corner of Dalton and McLachlan streets. Again, a new shopping precinct - up to the size of the North Orange shopping centre - is built.

As retailers move into these new premises, the arterial running through the heart of Orange - Summer Street - becomes a ghost town, with tumbleweeds rolling forlornly down the main drag.

The city becomes just another Australian town to lose its main street to a network of suburban shopping centres.

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The Alpine shopping centre. Copyright: Orange News Examiner.

Meanwhile, with bulky goods retailers - previously confined to locations such as the Orange Grove Homemaker Centre - now able to move into William Street or Endsleigh Avenue, a heavy hitter such as Harvey Norman makes the move closer to the CBD and paying customers.

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Without one of its "anchor" tenants, the homemaker centre is now in peril.

An aerial view of Alpine Shopping Centre. Google Earth.

None of the above is happening. Yet.

But Orange City Council reckons the warning signs are there that it could, if the NSW Department of Planning is successful in its "employment zone reform".

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The department is planning to reduce the current system in NSW of seven business zones and two industrial zones down to five zones, council says.

Fearful the above scenario - or variations on it - could come to pass, council is pushing back against the proposals.

It has made a submission to the Department of Planning outlining its "concerns".

An aerial view of the Greengate shops. Google Earth.

"Orange City Council tries to protect the role of the CBD as the primary retail centre for the whole community," it said in a media statement. "There was also concern the changes could let retail fragment to other parts of Orange."

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Council’s Planning & Development Committee chair, councillor Jeff Whitton, urged business owners and those who live near smaller shopping precincts to take an interest in the process and have their say.

This hand drawn ink on paper illustration is by acclaimed artist Michael Fitzjames and was published in Fairfax newspapers in Australia. The politician promises the world but the phone reception is still terrible. Art measures 21cm x 12.5cm. Publish date unknown. Fitzjames illos are instantly recognisable, and are rarely made available for sale. This piece would suit someone living on the land! $1,285. Hand delivered in Orange with Certificate of Authenticity.

"Currently, while we have height restrictions in areas like the CBD, we don’t have the same height limits for neighbourhood shopping centres,” he said.

Following council's first submission “the department made some changes, but we’d like them to go further to protect the local arrangements that Orange has in place", Whitton said.

To view the details of the exhibition and make a submission, visit the Department of Planning’s Employment Zones Reform webpage for general information on the reform process. The current exhibition period for community comment runs until 12 July this year.