For years, I’ve spoken with local businesses and residents who felt Chirn Park had been left behind while other village precincts, like Tedder Avenue and Mudgeeraba Village, received council investment.

Revitalising Chirn Park was one of Joe Wilkinson’s key election commitments, so once he was elected, it became one of the projects I was most interested in following to see how that would translate into improvements for businesses and residents.

Recently, the Gold Coast Bulletin featured the concerns of several Chirn Park business owners about the $200,000 streetscape project. Their frustration wasn’t simply about painted parking bays—it was about feeling that the consultation process hadn’t genuinely influenced the final outcome.

After following the project from the beginning, speaking with locals and businesses, and reviewing Council’s consultation results, I can understand why so many people are asking the same question:

What was the point of the consultation if the outcome barely changed?

I’ve embedded the Bulletin article below, but I also wanted to explain how we got here, why businesses are frustrated, and what I would have done differently if the goal was to genuinely let the community shape the future of Chirn Park.

The original promise

During the election campaign, Joe Wilkinson committed to revitalising Chirn Park. Later, in his November 2025 newsletter, he described the project as creating a more vibrant, safer and enjoyable precinct. For a precinct that has long felt overlooked, it sounded promising.

The project announced

By early 2026, the proposal had been refined into a $200,000 Tactical Urbanism Streetscape Refresh, with the Division 6 and Division 7 councillors both putting in $100,000 each.

The concept included:

• Painted parking bays and loading zones.
• Large planter pots.
• Landscaping.
• Street furniture.
• Two new Chirn Park welcome signs.

We were told targeted community engagement would take place before works commenced.

Consultation begins

In March 2026, Council invited residents to consultation sessions and launched an online survey.

The consultation material stated residents could:
“Inform and shape the future vision of the Chirn Park Precinct.”.

Business owners wanted to help shape the project

What impressed me throughout this process was how much local businesses engaged in the process, fighting to have a voice in the area.

Walk-ins Welcome and Darkhorse owner Sean opened his bar for community meetings, giving businesses and residents a place to come together and discuss the project with councillors. The newly formed Chirn Park Collective also brought local businesses together so they could speak with a stronger, collective voice.

As concerns grew that the consultation wasn’t exploring enough options, a local designer volunteered his time to prepare alternative concepts for the precinct to show what was possible and give the community a genuine choice between different design directions.

When I shared those concepts in the Labrador 4215 community group, more than 3,600 people were reached, with 408 people voting- more than six times the number of responses received through Council’s own survey. The majority of voters preferred the design put together by the local designer.

The poll wasn’t intended to replace Council’s consultation, it simply showed something many of us already suspected:

People are far more willing to engage when they’re invited to help shape ideas, rather than simply comment on a concept that’s already been prepared.

What Council’s consultation found

Council’s survey received 66 responses.

Interestingly, decorative treatment of the parking bays received support from just 17 respondents (25.8%), making it the lowest-supported of the proposed project elements.

Worth noting is that the fan design that is currently in the alleyway was originally done on private land without the owner’s permission, and so continuing this may not be possible.

What changed?

Some changes were made. The current project will now include:

• Solid red painted parking bays.
• New planter pots and landscaping.
• Upgraded LED lighting.

The welcome signage and street furniture included in the original proposal have been removed at this stage and deferred to future projects. The alternative concepts shared by the Chirn Park Collective and the strong response from more than 400 people in the Labrador 4215 poll showed there is genuine community interest in helping shape the future of the precinct.

If the signage and other elements are now being reconsidered, I hope the conversation also broadens to what residents have been asking for all along: what kind of village precinct does Chirn Park want to become, and how can future investment help achieve that? It does seem unusual that the painted parking bays – the least supported element in Council’s own consultation – remain part of the project.

@jennaforgc

Chirn Park businesses have waited years for investment. Now there’s a $200,000 streetscape project proposing painting car parks red, planter pots and LED lighting. Many businesses told me they’d rather see investment that creates a destination people want to visit. Would you have spent the money differently? #ChirnPark #GoldCoast #Labrador4215

♬ original sound – Charl

Speaking directly with businesses

Before commenting publicly, I wanted to hear directly from the businesses most affected. Several themes came up repeatedly.

Some businesses told me they didn’t even know the project was happening.

Others said nobody had asked them what they wanted for the precinct before a concept was developed.

Every business I spoke with questioned spending money on painting parking bays when there were higher priorities.

One café owner described the nearby park as a “soup pit” every time it rains and questioned why those issues weren’t being addressed first.

Business owners questioned why they had been encouraged to participate if they couldn’t see how their feedback influenced the final proposal.

What I would have done differently

I genuinely believe Chirn Park deserves investment.

This isn’t about saying “don’t spend the money.” It’s about making sure the investment reflects what the people who live, work and spend time there actually want.

For me, meaningful consultation starts before concepts are drawn up.

Rather than preparing a proposal and then asking people what they think, I would have started by sitting down with the people who know Chirn Park best.

I would have visited businesses one by one and simply asked, “If you had the opportunity to improve Chirn Park, what would be on your wish list?”

What works well?

What doesn’t?

What would encourage more people to visit?

Only after hearing those ideas would I begin developing concepts that reflected the community’s priorities.

From there, I’d bring businesses and residents together at a time that suited them, present multiple options and invite genuine discussion about the direction of the precinct.

That’s how consultation becomes collaboration.

After speaking with businesses myself, everyone I spoke to questioned the decision to spend money painting the parking bays.

Instead, they spoke about creating a destination people want to spend time in, strengthening the village atmosphere and building on what already makes Chirn Park special.

Chirn Park has enormous potential, and that potential is best realised by starting with the community’s vision, rather than asking the community to respond to someone else’s.

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