Main street forum is on tonight, have your say

The Chamber of Commerce is hosting a public meeting at the Katherine Town Council Civic Centre this evening. 

Katherine Times ran a series of stories earlier this year, highlighting the need for a solution. 

Chamber of Commerce chairman Kevin Grey said the chamber has organised the forum with support from the government and Katherine Town Council.

“It all started with the [Katherine Times] articleS a few months ago, it started a lot of conversations about the main street,” Mr Grey said. 

“The forum is an opportunity to let people know the current plans for the street and open up conversation to see what we can do to make the town look more inviting. 

“It is an interesting time at the moment with internet purchasing and development in Katherine East, it is a good time to get everyone's input into the future of the town,” he said.

“It will be an open meeting for people to share ideas, and also allow the public know about what is already in progress.”

Katherine’s newly elected councillors are expected to attend the meeting.

Katherine Town Council CEO Rob Jennings said the forum is a great collaboration between council, the Chamber of Commerce and the government. 

“At this stage the Department of Infrastructure Planning and Logistics own the street but here has been a bit of talk about the main street, so we thought if there is something we can do and while we are making long term plans for Katherine, lets talk to the community and get some ideas,” Mr Jennings said. 

“We want to find out what we can all do together to make Katherine somewhere great for tourists and locals.

“We have some ideas which will will present to the public at the meeting but we also really want to hear from the community,” he said. 

Meanwhile the NT Government has been busing planning how to “revitalise the Darwin CBD”.

The government paid the University of NSW $30,000 to conduct a study which showed Darwin’s CBD could be cooled down with street shading, trees and water fountains. 

The heat study –  undertaken through an NT Government grant to the University of New South Wales – maps temperatures across the CBD using thermal imaging and drone monitoring.