Report reviews city centre commercial trade

A range of initiatives implemented with the aim of increasing trade and activation levels in the city centre have been highlighted in a report to Council.

In May 2019, Council endorsed initiatives and activities aimed at contributing to the ongoing success of the Cairns City Centre, including a commercial review by Urbis.

The Urbis report, received by Council today, noted key initiatives implemented or ongoing, including:

The appointment of Council’s full time CBD Place Manager in August 2019.Amendment of Council’s parking regulations to provide free on street parking in the city centre on Saturdays after 2pm and all day on Sundays.Implementation, in collaboration with other stakeholders, of the Sunday on Shields activation program of events between August and October 2019 aimed at driving more visitation to the city centre.Continued support for a range of events and activities aimed at increasing visitation to the city centre including Ironman Cairns, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Festival Cairns 2019, Targa Great Barrier Reef and 7 Cairns Marathon Festival.

The report found that trading and activation levels in CBD have been adversely impacted by a number of factors including:

Global macro trends placing downward pressure on high street retail.Growing trend for primary retail centres to be located in standalone shopping centres.Comparatively (when compared to other city centres) low levels of residential population density in the Cairns City Centre.

The Urbis report also makes a series of recommendations on actions in response to these impacts, with Council officers to develop a plan of actions to be considered by the new Council following the March elections.