We’re doing things a bit differently with this project because it’s an‘Innovating Streets’ project that’s mostly being funded by Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency.
See more photographs from the project here
We hope you’re all getting a first-hand sense of how Fantame Street is starting to work: when you’re walking, biking, scooting, or driving through, and when waiting, sitting, eating, or having a chat.
The results of our monitoring, surveying, research and community feedback from the two-month trial of Fantame Street’s new configuration, are in and show that the changes are working.
85 per cent of people driving by the shops and Russell School are now going well under the survivable speed of 30kph. Having somewhere to sit down, eat and wait on Fantame Street is also popular, especially with kids.
Given that the results are achieving the project goals the main elements of the improvements will stay as is, with some minor adjustments for workability.
There will, however, be one significant adjustment. Responding to widespread concern at fewer carparks within two seconds’ walk of the shops, we will create additional formal car parks in Fawn Street.
The results are in; monitoring, surveying, research and community feedback from the two-month trial of Fantame Street’s new configuration, show that the changes are working.
There’s a big win: 85 per cent of people driving by the shops and Russell School are now going well under the survivable speed of 30kph – a direct result of the traffic-calming improvements in the heart of Fantame Street. This was the first of the five design goals adopted by the community co-design ‘Engineroom’ team. The installations in Fantame are achieving improvements against four of the five goals:
We haven’t seen the reduction in non-stop through-traffic we had expected, probably due to a large rise in construction vehicles in the area. An additional goal was to make Fantame Street safer and easier for kids to walk, scoot, and bike on, and the slower traffic and shorter crossing distances have made a big difference. These wins have been achieved by the Engineroom’s choices of good-practice techniques that significantly reduce road risk and make the street a nicer place to be.
Overall, even with winter weather and a short window for feedback on the interim installations, it’s clear that the Fantame improvements are achieving the project goals. Therefore, the main elements of the improvements will stay as is, with some minor adjustments for workability.
There will be one significant adjustment, responding to widespread concern at fewer carparks within two seconds’ walk of the shops: we will create additional formal car parks. These will be 90-degree angle parks on much quieter Fawn Street, replacing the under-used space directly adjacent to the big mural. This change has been endorsed by the Engineroom and discussed with the Fantame Street shop owners.
Changes to the parking and the other minor layout changes will happen during August 2021
It’s been a few weeks since the street party to celebrate the kick-off of public consultation and trying out an improved Fantame Street.
We hope you’re all getting a first-hand sense of how Fantame is starting to work: when you’re walking, biking, scooting, or driving through, and when waiting, sitting, eating, or having a chat.
The coming few weeks are about getting as much insight as possible on whether the interim street changes are achieving the five design goals agreed by the community co-design group (the Engineroom).
The design goals are:
Insight from your feedback and from formal monitoring will let us see what adjustments we could make to the layout so it works better
We’re also currently in the process of putting in safety improvements at the Castor Crescent and Fantame Street intersections with Warspite Ave. This is to slow the speeds of traffic entering Castor Crescent/Fantame Street from Warspite Ave and make crossing safer for people who are walking.
The Fantame Street changes have been designed jointly by Council and the community co-design group (the Engineroom) to respond to community desires to slow traffic down, make the streets safer and nicer for all, and express the culture and identity of the neighbourhood.
We want to know what you think!
There are several ways you can tell us what you think:
Please note: the feedback period closes on Friday 9 July.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be measuring the:
This monitoring information will let us compare our ‘before’ measurements to see if the street changes are encouraging people to drive more safely, and to use the street more freely when walking, biking, scooting, or just spending time.
After feedback closes and monitoring is completed, we will analyse the information and look at whether or not changes to the layout need to be made, and what they are. We’ll test our reasoning with the Engineroom. Any adjustments to the layout will be made during August.
The resulting refined layout will be in place for several years, until Porirua Development's comprehensive redevelopment of the area. This will give everyone the opportunity to try out the better Fantame longer-term, and see whether or not the refined layout is slowing traffic and making Fantame safer and nicer for people.
Kāinga Ora and Council will use the insights from that period to decide how much of the improvements to the street should be done through the bigger redevelopment.
The Fantame Street Party on Friday 28 May kicked off consultation on the new street layout. The party was well attended by tamariki, whanau and locals with lots of fun activities despite the gloomy weather. Thanks to Cr Seiuli for opening proceedings on behalf of the Mayor, and to our party MCs Paula and Dennis from Fantame Street. Thanks also to the many community people that took part in the occasion and the awesome singing from Russell School tamariki.
As well as enjoying the entertainment and kai we got lots of comments on things people were concerned about like parking and unsafe driving, and also things that they liked – the artwork and creating a village feel.
Now is the opportunity for everyone to have their say – there are feedback forms in the laundromat, and there’ll be a formal survey in a couple of weeks once people have had a chance to try out the new layout.
Because this is an Innovating Streets project, we get to review the feedback, monitor what’s happening in the street and then see what adjustments can be made to the layout if needed.
We are also putting in some safety improvements at the intersections where Castor Cres and Fantame St meet Warspite Ave.
Fantame Street and Castor Cres area locals are invited to the Fantame St party on Friday 28 May from 2.30-6pm. (If the weather doesn’t play ball the rain-off date is Friday 11 June).
Come and celebrate the new-look street and tell Council and the community co-design team what you think of the improvements.
There’ll be performances, a time capsule, free kai and activities for tamariki (face painting, dancing and chalk art).
This is a family friendly event so leave your dogs and alcohol at home.!
Construction work for improving Fantame Street and the Warspite Avenue intersections starts on Sunday 9 May.
Where work is taking place
Fantame Street between Falcon Street and Fawn Street, including the Warspite Avenue intersections.
Please note surrounding streets may experience some changes to traffic, and/or have some machinery or work vehicles parked on them.
When work is happening
Fantame Street: Sunday 9 May 2021 to Friday 28 May 2021.
Warspite Avenue Intersections: Friday 28 May to Wednesday 30 June.
Work will be carried out during the day between 7am and 6pm with occasional night works between 7pm and 6am
We’re excited to be able to share some artist’s impressions of the co-designed improvements to be tried out on Fantame Street, and the safety improvements at the three intersections on Warspite Ave (with Castor Cres and Fantame Street).
Download the image here
This is the ‘roughly right’ design for Fantame Street produced through community co-design. It’s all about making the street more about people and less about cars.
It’s ‘roughly right’ because after we install all the features with adjustable materials, it’s time to come down to the street and experience the changes. You can see and feel how it’s working and tell us what you think from your own experience instead of having to look at pictures. Then we can adjust things that aren’t quite right, before anything is finalised.
The community co-design group have generated and tested the fledgling designs with the wider community through three public workshops and special sessions with tamariki and whānau of Russell School and Pukerau Kōhanga. Many good local ideas have been incorporated into the design.
Download the image here
The basic safety changes where Castor Crescent and Fantame Street intersect with Warspite Ave will slow traffic down a bit as it approaches the ‘heart’ of Fantame Street, and also make these intersections themselves safer.
Ordering materials for the street changes
Lots of work has been going on behind the scenes to get prices for all the items and order all the items needed before we can start installing the new features on Fantame Street during May.
Budding Russell School artists
Tamariki from Russell School are helping to turn boring concrete wheel-stops into works of art. They will look great on the street as well as help delineate street space for people.
What’s next?
May/early June: Initial changes will be made in Fantame Street, including art and colour if weather permits, and the basic safety improvements will be made to the intersections. There’ll be a block party to celebrate the new look Fantame, and kick off the period of trying it out. Everyone should come down – for the party and during the following weeks – to experience how the improvements are working and tell us how you’re finding it.
June/July: We’ll move the new objects around in response to the community’s feedback about the new layout and we will also monitor the area to see what is working best. Once it’s improved, the final design will be confirmed.
The ‘roughly right’ design for improvements to Fantame Street is nearly finished. Our core community codesign group, made up of Cannons Creek locals, has spent about 20 hours of hard work with us generating the design that looks to make the street safer and nicer for all.
The design incorporates safety features to slow traffic down and in doing so makes it safer for people to cross the road, safer for tamariki to scoot and bike, and easier for those with mobility issues to get around. It also features areas that will be pleasant for people to sit and relax, with plants and trees, and has areas of art and colour to liven up the street and show off the neighbourhood’s identity.
We’ve discussed the project’s goals and the fledgling designs at three public community workshops and special sessions with tamariki and whānau of Russell School and Pukerau Kōhanga and incorporated lots of ideas into the design.
Next steps
We’re now in the process of reviewing the design to ensure it meets safety requirements, before it can be shared publicly and then translated into buildable directions for contractors.
We hope to be able to share this ‘roughly right’ design with you in the next few weeks.
Once finalised, we can start ordering the materials and get the codesigned improvements ‘live’ into the street in May.
That’s when everyone should come down to Fantame Street, see and feel how the improvements are working, and say how you’re finding it.
At the same time there’ll be some basic safety improvements going in at the Castor Crescent and Fantame Street intersections with Warspite Ave, to calm traffic a little as it approaches the ‘heart’ of Fantame Street.
During May and June, we’ll be moving the new objects around in the central section of Fantame Street in response to how people are finding the new layout. Once it’s working better, the final design will be confirmed.
We’ve had an intense month of community kōrero in workshops, and hard mahi with our core community codesign group, coming up with a ‘roughly right’ design for improving Fantame Street in the way locals want.
Last week we had an awesome morning with Russell School children and a great afternoon session with whānau and friends of Russell School and Pukerau Kōhanga.
It was really good to get a really rich picture of what local people like about Fantame Street, what they’d like to see improved, and people’s ideas for making the street safer and nicer. Some of the concerns raised by tamariki included speeding cars and how that was dangerous for people (and for pets), and that there was nowhere to sit after school when you’re waiting (or when you get tired!).
They wanted more places to feel safe from traffic, as they like walking and scooting to school. They really liked the idea of more art on the street showing off local culture and Russell School’s HEART values, plus more plants, more places to sit, and more space for play and chalking.
Adults from the school and kōhanga communities were united in their desire for a safer street for tamariki. While there were lots of views about how to get people parking and driving a bit better during busy times, there was an overwhelming preference for trying out a “community stopping zone” outside the front of the school. The school community is starting to think about how to provide a people element (e.g. a kaitiaki keeping things flowing) to complement the physical street change (art) in the zone.
Also, this week we passed an important milestone: our last codesign workshop with the core group. They reviewed their ‘roughly right’ layout for the street in light of the latest information from community workshops and school/kōhanga sessions and confirmed it as a good first step in improving safety and making more space for people. They also gave directions around how they want to “furnish” the street to make it inviting, with things like planters, seating, a bike rack, and picnic tables.
Next steps
We will have a reflection and wrap-up with our core codesign group to honour the dozens of hours they’ve given to this process. Our designers are going to finalise the ‘roughly right’ design based on the feedback we’ve had this week and the steer from our codesign group. Watch this space, and we’ll post up the final ‘roughly right’ design for Fantame Street’s improvements.
Next comes ordering all the materials and then we can finally get the codesigned improvements into the street in May. That’s when everyone should come down to Fantame Street, see and feel how the improvements are working, and say how you’re finding it. We’ll move things around to make it work better, and the final design will be confirmed soon after that.
At the same time there’ll be some basic safety improvements going in at the Castor Crescent and Fantame Street intersections with Warspite Ave, to calm traffic a little as it approaches the “heart” of Fantame Street.
We’ve now held three workshops with our core codesign group (the ‘engine-room’) and have had two community workshops (with tamariki and rangatahi through Wesley Waitangirua, and a public workshop on 15th February).
Across all these workshops are consistent themes: locals want Fantame Street to:
Over the past three weeks the codesign mahi has achieved its first step: identifying a safer overall layout for most of the street. The last piece of street to get a trial layout chosen is the stretch by Russell School gate. This will be done this coming week with the school and kōhanga communities.
The remaining step for the codesign phase is to decide what objects and colour to use to “furnish” the safer street. Trees and planting, road and footpath artwork, places to sit and eat – things to help bring the street to life for people.
We need your help in deciding what activities the street environment should encourage in different places: waiting for their moko, eating, meeting people, waiting for laundry, and so on. And we need your help to know how to make Fantame Street nice to do these things.
Community workshops
We’ve got more workshops coming up – come along and get into the designs:
Warspite and Fantame
RSVP on Creeksiders’ Facebook page, or just come with your friends – to one or both.
As well as more community workshops we have two dedicated sessions with tamariki and whānau of Russell School and Pukerau Kōhanga to get their input. The engine-room codesign group will absorb all this input as we move towards a full ‘roughly right’ design.
By the end of next week, the community codesign will have completed the ‘roughly right’ concept for a safer, nicer Fantame Street, to try out in real life in a couple of months’ time. Stay tuned!
Joint workshops with our core codesign group have started and we’re also starting to roll out community workshops and sessions with Russell School tamariki and whanau – we’ll keep you posted on this web page.
Creeksiders and Wesley Community Action are helping lead the process and encouraging the community to get involved in making Fantame Street better.
The focus so far is on developing ‘roughly right’ physical changes to the street that reflect what this community wants. Over the next couple of weeks’, you may see a survey-taker around the shops in Fantame Street observing how the street is being used now – stop and say hi!
It’s important to get a wide representation of design ideas from the community so come along to a community workshop:
RSVP on Creeksiders’ Facebook page, or just come with your friends – to one or all.
If you can’t come along to a workshop you can find out more:
A fusion of art, colour, plants, seats, picnic tables and road safety features appearing this month heralds the community-led transformation of Fantame Street in eastern Porirua.
The street improvements being tried out this winter are bringing to life ideas the community co-design group and Council have been working on together, to make Fantame’s streetscape safer and nicer for the community.
Front and centre will be some brightly painted wheel stops courtesy of Russell School students who are keen to see their neighbourhood look more colourful. Ideas from these tamariki and their whānau helped create the street design which will start taking shape as a new layout is installed during May.
The project was born out of long-standing community concerns about speeding cars, crashes and near misses, and the strong neighbourhood spirit around the heart of Fantame Street.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker says last year Council tapped into the Innovating Streets funding available from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport for this project, called People Changing Streets – Fantame Neighbourhood.
“Council then worked with a group of Creek locals to co-design the changes so they would reflect what the community actually wants and needs,” says Mayor Baker.
“This co-design team has become known as the ‘Engineroom’ because of the huge amount of mahi they’ve put in over the past few months because they believe in community making good change in their neighbourhoods.
“The Engineroom has put in many hours debating street layout ideas, checking them with the community, helping facilitate community workshops and generally sharing their knowledge and passion for their neighbourhood.”
“Everyone wanted the streets to be safer – that was the easy part. What the team had to nut out was exactly how to change Fantame Street’s layout to be safer, in ways that also make the street look and feel like the special neighbourhood place it is. The Engineroom’s proposed design has started Fantame’s journey in the roughly right direction, and once the new features are in place it’s time for the community to try it out and see how it feels.”
Jacqui Edwards, a member of the Engineroom says it was a bit of a balancing act to get a ’roughly right’ mix that all the group members could stand behind.
“We had strong project goals that we all bought into, a finite budget to work with, and we debated long and hard to get to the roughly right design. The beauty of the People Changing Streets project is that once the initial improvements are in place, everybody can actually experience them, in the real street. Locals can give feedback from real personal experience, not pictures on paper, and the project can adjust the layout before anything’s made permanent.”
Installation of the improvements in Fantame Street begins on Sunday 9 May, work will be carried out during the day between 7am and 6pm with occasional night work. The work in Fantame Street is planned for completion by the end of May. Council will also be installing some basic safety improvements to slow traffic at the intersections where Castor Crescent and Fantame Street meet Warspite Ave during June.
“Once the improvements are in place in Fantame Street there’ll be a neighbourhood block party to celebrate the new look and to kick off the period of trying it out. Everyone should come down – for the party and during the following weeks – to experience how the improvements are working and tell us how you’re finding it,” says Jacqui.
Mayor Baker says it’s about community and Council together finding the optimal layout for Fantame.
“We will be looking to the community for initial feedback in June and July and considering that alongside our monitoring to see what will work best in reality.
“After that we will remain in contact with the Engineroom to ensure that ongoing feedback is received to make sure the layout works well.”
The Council’s People Changing Streets project is one of many collaborative street-improvement projects rolling out across the country, fuelled by 90 per cent funding from Waka Kotahi-NZ Transport Agency’s Innovating Streets For People programme.
Further information is available from poriruacity.govt.nz/fantame-street, by emailing PeopleChangingStreets@PoriruaCIty.govt.nz or at the Kāinga Ora Porirua Development Community Info Hub (26 Warspite Ave).
We’ve got some artist’s impressions to give an idea of how things will look.
Download the image here
Download the image here
Image credit: Porirua artist, Nick Meli
Community leaders helped plan the community engagement process and a community group of Cannons Creek locals helped co-design the “roughly right” layout for Fantame Street.
Once the designs have been installed in May 2021, there will be opportunities to take part in creative activities and events in the street that encourage people into the newly rearranged street space, and a chance to give feedback on how the new layouts feel.
In June/July 2021 people will be coming back to the streets, seeing how the evolving features feel, and giving more feedback so we can tweak things to make them work better.
Community concerns about unsafe driving and speeding in the Castor Crescent/Fantame Street area in eastern Porirua have led to this project.
The community and Council have jointly designed and shaped the street improvements targeted to the area outside Russell School in Fantame Street. These improvements will slow traffic down and make the streets nicer and safer for people to use.
The installations to achieve this improvement in the street will be put in with some temporary and adjustable materials. These will be improved as we see and hear how they’re working for people in real life.
At the same time as the changes are being made to Fantame Street we are making some standard safety changes to slow traffic at the intersections where Castor Crescent and Fantame Street meet Warspite Ave
Fantame Street and nearby intersections are those that locals have raised lots of concerns about and we think could be made safer and nicer to get around on foot (or by bike, scooter or wheelchair).
It’s a good place to try this new approach because there’s a bit less traffic than the main road and because it’s surrounded by Russell School, the Fantame Street shops and the new Kāinga Ora housing developments happening now.
While Kāinga Ora’s Porirua Development project is changing buildings and streets and paths, this Innovating Streets project is just about street space – footpath space, street parking and traffic lanes (the “road corridor”).
The scope of this particular project is pretty small. So we want it to deliver street improvements that will actually make a tangible difference for locals, rather than spreading thinly over a big area and not making much impact anywhere.
This Innovating Streets project will not include:
Council has received funding for this project from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency's nationwide “Innovating Streets” programme and pilot fund which is covering 90% of the project costs – $675,000 of the total project value of $750,000 – with the rest of the funding coming from Council and Kāinga Ora.
The Innovating Streets programme and fund is about getting councils and communities to try using a ‘tactical urbanism’ approach to make urban streets more people friendly. There are over 70 Innovating Streets projects happening right now nationwide – see the programme’s website for more information
Tactical urbanism is about changing streets by piloting adaptive street improvements that have been jointly designed with the locals.
Once the improvements have been in place for a few weeks we’ll be seeking feedback on how things are working. We will be using a survey to gather views and we’ll also be monitoring things on site.
In the meantime, if you’d like to give us some feedback please get in touch at PeopleChangingStreets@PoriruaCity.govt.nz
The People Changing Streets project to make Fantame Street safer and nicer was prompted by long-standing community concerns about speeding cars, crashes and near misses.
The new improvements going in, funded by Waka Kotahi New Transport Agency, are aiming to slow traffic down and to make the street safer and nicer for everyone who uses it.
There is a combination of changes – some designed specifically to address safety concerns and others to make the street a nicer environment. Safety measures include narrowing the lane widths, tightening the intersections with Fawn and Falcon streets, removing angle parking and replacing with safer parallel parks, and installing a dedicated disability park. The things designed to make this a nicer environment where people want to spend some time include creating places to sit and eat, putting art and colour in the street that show off the neighbourhood identity, adding plants and trees, and adding astroturf to make hard concrete areas more welcoming.
This is a Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency Innovating Streets project which means that following the installation, it’s time to try it out and give lots of feedback so that we can see how the changes are working and whether we need to make adjustments to the layout. We will be gathering feedback through feedback cards that you can get on the street, plus surveys by researchers. You can also email us at PeopleChangingStreets@PoriruaCity.govt.nz
The Council and Waka Kotahi have been working with a group of local community members who co-designed the changes with us. The community co-design group consisted of 15 locals from Fantame Street and the wider Cannons Creek area, and came up with the design of the improvements over five workshop sessions. We also held three wider community workshops that anyone could attend, two sessions with Russell School and one session with a local youth group – all of the feedback fed into the final design.
The whole point of an Innovating Streets project like this one is that community members are involved in co-designing the changes. Then the entire community gets to try it out and have their say on what’s working and what could be changed to work better.
Consultation takes place in June 2021: we will be asking for that feedback so that we can see what adjustments we can make to the layout if needed. Rather than trying to imagine how the changes will work from plans or drawings you can go check out the street for yourself, and fill in a feedback card based on what you experience. Come down often, at different times, as the street will be evolving as we tweak it. Give feedback every time! We’ll also be gathering feedback through formal research surveys in person on the street. You can also email us at PeopleChangingStreets@PoriruaCity.govt.nz
Angle parking is dangerous in streets where there are lots of people around, due to people in cars pulling in fast and backing out fast without being able to see. Parallel parking is considerably safer and safety was the co-design group’s principal reason for changing the arrangement.
Parking is something we spent a lot of time discussing with the community co-design team and others in the neighbourhood. Locals told us that there were numerous crashes when people reversed out of these parks into parked cars.
Together we’ve looked at parking as a whole package which means we’ve kept the space for parking two cars on Fawn Street (by the shops). We have made the parking outside the shops safer and put in a special disability park there, outside Russell School, and are installing a Community Stopping Zone. This will be primarily a pick-up and drop-off zone for whānau use during the school’s busy times. The rest of the time the community can also use this zone for quick stops.
One of the best ways to slow traffic is narrowing the perceived width of the traffic lane, and sharpening turning angles for cars. The community co-design group have applied international best practice in choosing these to try out.
The lanes of Fantame Street and the side streets are all legal width, and two cars can pass safely, but the lanes look much narrower now. This encourages those driving to naturally slow down, focus on what's around them and pass carefully. All of this helps make Fantame Street safer.
We have been talking to the shop owners about deliveries. From our conversations we understand that early morning deliveries and those made via the service lane shouldn’t be impacted at all. We’ll be carefully monitoring the impact this trial has including on deliveries at other times of the day and are open to finding solutions that don’t compromise the trial of the community-designed safer and nicer street layout.
Depending on what the community feedback and our onsite monitoring tells us, we could be making adjustments to the layout in Fantame Street. In addition to this work there are also some minor safety improvements happening at the Warspite Ave intersections with Castor Cres and Fantame Street.
We’re making some safety improvements at these intersections – designed to slow traffic down. This will include narrowing the intersections, and providing safer crossing points
This project is 90% funded by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency through its Innovating Streets programme, with Porirua City Council and Kāinga Ora contributing the rest.
