John Street Engagement

Gyde supported Camden Council to deliver an extensive engagement program to support a land use study and public domain upgrades for John Street, Camden.

Engagement took place over two phases. In the first phase, Gyde facilitated initial community consultation to identify community ideas, needs and priorities for the upgrade of John Street. A second phase of consultation then took the draft concept plans back to the community to test their preferences before Council made a final determination on the future of John Street.

A wide range of engagement activities across the project life cycle ensured a high level of community interaction with the project, which will deliver significant benefits for the Camden town centre.

Engagement activities included:

• community and business surveys
• door knocking and meetings with John Street businesses
• on-street ‘walkshops’
• use of “The Place Game” place assessment tool
• facilitated stakeholder workshops
• a Creative Collab with the Camden arts community
• pop up stalls at Unlock Camden and the local markets
• youth street chats, and
• an internal Council workshop

An analysis of initial engagement outcomes distilled the feedback into five key themes to inform the concept plan development, with a focus on local heritage, accessibility, and beautification of the street scape.

Concept plan testing identified broad support for upgrades to the John Street public domain, with a strong community focus on retention of on street parking in the town centre.

Following concept plan testing, Gyde presented community engagement outcomes to Council as part of their consideration and final adoption of a preferred concept plan for John Street.