Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has engaged the services of award-winning designers John Mongard Landscape Architects to prepare a plan for High Street and as part of that an architect will be asking for community input.

The architect, who council staff understand will be John Mongard himself, will be based at a shop in Wauchope for three and a half days and also host two community functions.

Chamber president Rob Hamilton said this was a fantastic chance for everyone to put their thinking caps on and have their say about the street’s future direction.

“We have had some beautification done before, but whether the community has been consulted enough is another story,” Mr Hamilton said.

“But we are excited that council has called in an architect to consult and try and get some guidelines in place.

“Bring it on. Let’s try and get as many people as possible involved.

“I would urge everyone to support the project and and get their ideas in.”

He personally would like to see more footpath dining to make cafes and restaurants more interactive with the street.

“We have wide footpaths, so why not make the most of it and have tables and chairs spilling out onto the street?” he said.

Mr Hamilton said it would be wonderful if the architect could come up with some guidelines business owners could follow when painting and outfitting their premises to develop a unique Wauchope boutique “flavour”.

“Wauchope gets a lot of criticism because of disjointed colour schemes and building styles, and it would be nice to have a theme to tie it all together, without making it look the same as every other town,” he said.

He was adamant that whatever beautification works were done should not impact on parking.

You can catch the architect at the following locations and times:

* The Ideas Shop will be located at shop 2, 36 High Street (next to the Village Green coffee house)