iPlan - a NSW Government initiative coordinated by
Department of Planning

2.4 The Town Centre Core

2.4.1 Functions

Successful town centres have a central business district or "core" that is the principal focus of the town centre. The core is intended to be the commercial and social heart and soul of the entire town centre. As such it should have the following functions:

• The premier community focus for Tweed Heads residents, workers and visitors.
• A substantial new residential heart of Tweed Heads, catering to market segments that are presently under-represented.
• Hosting accommodation that is complementary to Coolangatta tourist accommodation, including facilities for students, tour groups, and hospital and university course and conference attendees.
• A local retail and services centre for town centre residents and workers, linked to and complementing the larger scale retail facilities at Tweed Mall.
• The commercial heart and central business district of Tweed Heads, with offices and support facilities.
• The centre of a Tweed Heads pedestrian corridor extending from Griffith Street to Jack Evans Boatharbour.

2.4.2 Desired Scale

The experience of successful town centres shows that where they cover a considerable geographic area (which is the case with Tweed Heads town centre area), it is important to designate a relatively compact core area as the town centre's commercial and social hub. This core area should have the following characteristics:

• A small-scale street, usually with no more than two traffic lanes plus curbside parking.
• A street that does not host high traffic volumes and in which traffic can be calmed.
• A clearly defined and contiguous street, typically no more than 500 metres in length, so that the whole precinct functions as a single integrated node.
• Potential for direct accessibility and exposure to major arterial roads.
• Potential for direct and relatively short pedestrian links to other important precincts in the town centre.
• Centrality to the town centre area.

2.4.3 Location

As noted above, proximity to major generators of regional and local patronage is a substantial major benefit to the town centre core. Therefore, an important determinant of the location of the town centre core is where it can gain the most net benefit from existing major traffic generators.

It is concluded that on balance, a location proximate to both Tweed Mall and Griffith Street would be most productive because of both the volumes and demographic profile of patrons of these facilities. A secondary benefit of such a location is proximity to Twin Towns.

A location in this area necessarily would place the town centre core further away from the Tweed Bowls Club and the Hospital, Civic Centre and University, which are the other major activity generators within the town centre area. However, these nodes collectively generate a lower volume of patronage than Tweed Mall, Griffith Street and Twin Towns, and the potential flow-on benefits from these facilities are considered substantially less than those provided by the major retail facilities to the north.

These factors are incorporated in the assessment of the most appropriate town centre layout and characteristics, which are summarised in the following section.