The call has gone out to spruce up the city’s shabby gateways, which a Maitland councillor has described as looking like the “back end of a dairy farm”.
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Cr Peter Garnham told a recent Maitland City Council meeting that Maitland’s entry points were not pleasant on the eye and it was time for a new look.
He raised the issue of the city’s gateways during debate on a housing sub-division proposal for Belmore Road, Lorn, which was approved.
Cr Garnham told the meeting that Maitland looks like the back end of a dairy farm and developments such as the Lorn sub-division would make our entry points much more appealing.
Cr Garnham said the old Welcome to Maitland entry signs located at Heritage Gardens near Thornton, Maitland Hospital roundabout, Ministers’ Park near Maitland Visitors’ Centre and outside the Grand Junction Hotel in Church Street, either needed restoring or bulldozing and replaced with new structures.
He said he is loathe to raise the dilapidated state of existing signs with council until the amalgamation issue is resolved and appropriate calls for funding can be made.
He said that in the interim, ratepayers should put forward their ideas on how they would like to see the city’s entry points.
“The signs we have in place now can definitely do with a spruce up,” Cr Garnham said. “They are starting to show their age. They must be at least 10 years old,” he said.
Cr Garnham said council will also have to consider a new branding if it merges with Dungog. “If we merge there may be a new name, a new image, a whole new local government area that will all have to come into play. If we don’t merge, the existing signs will still need to be improved or replaced,” he said.
“In the past we have been known as The Heritage Centre of NSW, Hunter River Country, Hub of the Hunter and more recently My Maitland.”
“The flavour of the moment is the farmers’ markets but there isn’t a lot of farming activity around Maitland these days.
“We really do need something to hang our hat on and that’s where the ratepayers need to get on board.
“We need entry points and wording that are innovative, something that makes us stand out, not just a name on a wall,” Cr Garnham said.
Destination NSW said there is an increasing desire from local councils and regional tourism organisations to promote tourism regions, council areas and the towns and villages within, through the use of signs at their respective entry points, particularly on state roads.
