FAQ

Council wants to reinvigorate the Cronulla CBD and envisages a fresh look and feel for the shopping plaza with better connections to the beaches and modes of transport as well as improving local traffic and parking.

A focus of the draft Strategy is the Cronulla Centre's public domain - the streets, parks and squares of Cronulla's central business district, including Cronulla Plaza and Peryman Square. The plaza is the heart of Cronulla’s commercial centre and is a successful pedestrian friendly shopping and dining destination for the Shire and wider Sydney. It was built some 27 years ago and the plaza’s infrastructure is now aging.

Rather than focus only on these aspects, council is looking at the bigger picture and how the Plaza relates to the rest of Cronulla.

The draft Strategy will assist Council in planning for the future of this important area - one of Sydney's iconic beachside suburbs and the Shire's most important tourist destination.

The draft Strategy addresses the Cronulla Centre in its local context, reflecting a whole-of-place understanding of Cronulla, with an emphasis on Cronulla’s connections to its wider setting.

It proposes four Themes -- Planning and Environment, Transport, Economic Development, and Community and Culture -- linked with their relevant Goals as follows:

Planning and environment

• A more connected and vibrant Cronulla.
• A more sustainable Cronulla that protects its natural environment.

Transport

• Cronulla’s regional transport linkages are strengthened.
• Cronulla’s traffic and parking are managed effectively.
• Active transport (walking and cycling) is promoted.

Economic development

• A thriving local business centre and a growing visitor economy.
• A strong, healthy and welcoming community.

Community and culture

• Cronulla’s heritage, arts and culture are celebrated.

These are accompanied by fifty-four Actions, focused on the public domain, which work toward achieving those goals.

Last year, Sutherland Shire Council invited architects, landscape architects, urban designers, design students and the community to generate ideas to revitalise the Cronulla Centre by competing in the Cronulla Design Ideas Competition.

As part of the competition's first prize, the winner of the professional category, architect Vic Lake, was commissioned to prepare a strategy plan for the Cronulla Centre's public domain.

Preparing the plan involved the design student winner and built on feedback from earlier community surveys and a series of workshops which involved the A Ward Councillors, senior Council staff and representatives of the Cronulla business community.

The result is the draft Cronulla Public Domain Strategy

The draft Strategy is a decision-making tool to assist Council in planning for Cronulla's future. It works within a broader environmental planning framework that includes the Sutherland Shire Local Environmental Plan 2015 and the draft Sutherland Shire Development Control Plan 2015. It also supports important Council policies such as the Shire's tourism and transport plans.

It is intended that the Strategy be implemented through Council’s current infrastructure and service delivery programs. The Strategy will be useful in the on-going review and management of these programs to achieve the goals for Cronulla which the Strategy has identified.

Time frames for implementing the actions are proposed, namely: ongoing (an existing action), short term (1 – 2 years), medium term (3 – 5 years) and long term (5 or more years).