Transforming Jetty Road: Statement to 7NEWS

On Thursday 3 April 2025, 7NEWS reported a story relating to the Transforming Jetty Road Project.

The story aimed to discredit the community consultation process, claiming that Council had not engaged with traders and in particular, had refused to engage with Andrew Taplin.

We strongly reject this claim as simply untrue. In fact, we have spoken to more than 300 traders in the precinct about this project – including Andrew Taplin on several occasions – and many have also provided their feedback through the consultation process.

The 7NEWS story inaccurately and unfairly represents both the Council and the details of the Transforming Jetty Road Project. We are extremely disappointed that the 7NEWS’ report did not present any part of the extensive response we provided in a timely manner.

We believe the community have the right to know how we responded to 7NEWS’ request for comment. To this aim, we publish our statement to 7NEWS in full:

The Transforming Jetty Road Project is a significant proposal which has involved extensive consultation with a number of experts to inform the concepts proposed.

The three draft concept designs consider the needs of residents, businesses and visitors to the City of Holdfast Bay to transform the Jetty Road precinct into a modern, safe, vibrant and accessible destination.

The City of Holdfast Bay has actively engaged residents and businesses in the area using a variety of different methods, encouraging them to share their feedback.

We have held 11 community drop-in sessions, where the project team and traffic experts have attended to answer any questions. These sessions were well-attended by the community, with more than 360 people attending the sessions so far, with two more to be held this week.

An 8-page brochure, providing top-level information about the draft concept designs and the community consultation, was distributed to approximately 20,000 residents and businesses across Holdfast Bay.

In addition to this, more than 1,000 letters were distributed to residents in and around the Jetty Road precinct who would be directly affected by the proposed changes to traffic in the draft concept designs.

Council has received more than 800 survey responses to date. Our website contains extensive information about the project and has received more than 25,000 views.

As part of continued commitment to engaging Jetty Road and surrounding businesses, we hosted a landlord lunch to provide specific detail about the project. This was attended by about 30 commercial landlords, including Andrew Taplin. We have also spoken directly to more than 300 Jetty Road traders and all traders have received multiple e-newsletters informing them of the project and consultation process.

We respect that there are passionate and different views, and we want to ensure the community can fairly and appropriately share their feedback. This is a significant project that has garnered the interest of people across the City of Holdfast Bay. As such, we recently announced a two-week extension to consultation, which is now open until 16 April 2025, and encourage residents and businesses to share their valued opinions and perspectives.

In relation to 7NEWS' questions about the bus route changes, traffic data and car parking, see below additional comments:

The proposed changes relate specifically to one of the three concepts presented. As such, we are asking the community to provide feedback about the proposed bus route changes as well as the two other concept designs.

There is a misconception the traffic data provided as part of this consultation has been based on off peak times. Peak traffic volumes for Jetty Road differ from other main roads in the city, the more adverse impact to traffic occurs on weekends, and in particular, on a summer weekend, when the traffic study was taken.

The three concepts propose a reduction in car parking spaces by between 29 and 60 spaces. There are approximately 3,500 on and off-street car parking spaces in the Jetty Road precinct.

Car traffic: Expected to increase by 230% on Jetty Road (from 748 to 1,690 cars per hour).

The expectation that 1,690 vehicles will use Jetty Road per hour over 24 hours is incorrect. This needs to be referenced as “1,690 vehicles in the peak hour period”, as hours outside of this period will result in less vehicles. This increase is only representative of the traffic impacts under Concept B and C. The reference to cars is also incorrect, 1,690 vehicles includes cars, buses and commercial traffic.

Jetty Road between Brighton Road and Sussex Street, will not increase by 230%. Under Concept B and C, Jetty Road is predicted to increase by 230% in the peak hour period only between Moseley Street and Sussex Street. This figure is based on our traffic modelling undertaken at the intersection of Jetty Road and Moseley Street. Based on the predicted changes in traffic behaviour under Concept B and C, we will see less of an increase in two-way vehicle movements on Jetty Road as we travel further east toward Gordon Street as vehicles are anticipated to utilise minor intersections along Jetty Road to get to their destinations.

Bus movements: Expected to rise by 164% (from 111 to 293 buses).

This is relevant to daily bus movements and not peak hour bus movements for Concept C only. Concept A and B is not anticipating any change in bus movements directly associated with these concepts. These bus movements are expected to rise only on Jetty Road (between Moseley Street and Gordon Street) and Gordon Street (between Jetty Road and Anzac Highway.

Figures are based on a peak period that is representative of the highest exposure of vehicles to the intersection of Jetty Road and Moseley Street, which occurs on a weekend between 12pm-1pm. This is reflective of a busy summer weekend which has a higher number of vehicles than the Mon-Fri typical peak weekday peak period.