What's happening - December 2024

Property Acquisition Strategy 

$2 million of Better Off Funding from the Three Waters Reform, was reallocated to the Levin Town Centre Transformation to purchase properties that could strategically support future development in the town centre.To date, Council has successfully acquired six properties on Oxford Street.

The majority of these properties are Earthquake Prone buildings that are classified as priority one, and were purchased with the intent that they will support the future east-west connectivity of the town centre. At this stage, there are no plans or timeframes as to how and when these buildings will be adapted to support this initiative.

Former Court House Building

‘The Old Courthouse Eatery’ opened its doors in September, much to the delight of many locals.

The vision with repurposing this building was to realise an opportunity to encourage visitors and residents to enjoy the Old Court House Eatery in its beautiful surroundings of the Nola Simpson Rose Gardens – both examples of east side attractions, and accentuating the significance of creating an east-west connectivity.

Carparking and Accessibility

A Carparking and Accessibility Strategy is under way. The purpose of this work is to review carparking to ensure that we are prepared for future changes in the town centre.

The Carparking Strategy will have a focus on encouraging people to visit and spend time in Levin and that it is accessible to all.

Central Lane and Garden Precinct

Central Lane runs parallel to Oxford Street (between Bath and Queen Streets) and this project looks to enhance and revitalise existing spaces in the Thompson House Gardens.

Work has also begun this week on the former Women’s Bowling Green, officially marking the start of more changes. This area is being prepared for smaller-scale redevelopment as an initial step before proceeding with larger plans. Contractors have started removing the remaining fences, and the gardens will soon be tidied.

Accessways are being created to connect the former bowling green to nearby toilets, making the space more accessible. In the new year, picnic tables will be installed to enhance the area for community use. This smaller-scale activation will provide an opportunity to observe how the community engages with the space and inform the direction of future developments.

Levin War Memorial Hall and Village Green

An expressions of interest process for the sites was run earlier this year, asking for ideas as to how the Levin War Memorial Hall and surrounding sites could be reimagined to enhance and activate this part of the town centre.

This process saw ten high quality responses of development ideas for the Levin War Memorial Hall and Village Green, with two of these responses selected to go through to a closed Request for Proposal (RFP) process for Council to consider.

Council has made a decision to progress to the next stage which will be a community consultation process on the proposed development. The consultation will occur in the new year.

Transport Hub

With upgraded train services planned for 2029, and a bus service being planned to service Levin in 2026, we are investigating options and the impacts around upgrading the existing facilities, as well as options for relocating the railway station and facilities.