Revitalising Newcastle Director, Michael Cassel has backed up the Premier’s assessment that the light rail construction is already seeing business growth along the corridor.
Gladys Berejiklian last week ruled out rent relief for businesses along Hunter Street because the project will ultimately deliver more customers.
Mr Cassel says some of those businesses are already seeing an upturn.
“There’s 35 new businesses started up since we’ve started the construction.”
“Others that were noisy at the start have actually figured out that they’re probably trading better than what they were before,” he says.
Mr Cassel has also defended the amount of parking availability in the city due to the construction.
“The data tells me there’s more than enough parking around Newcastle.”
“People have just got to change their habits a little bit, maybe you do have to walk for five minutes to get to the shop,” he says.
It comes as more delays are expected in the City, with Worth Place closed as of today.
It will be closed for around 6 weeks to allow for finishing road and kerb works.
North and South access will be available via Hunter Street between Merewether and Auckland Streets and Stewart Avenue.
The closure of Worth Place is in addition to closures along Scott and Hunter Streets for the light rail construction.