Dining pods on Batemans Bay’s waterfront are proving popular with punters, while delivering the shire’s planners with real-life insights into how people use the area.
A pair of the portable wooden table and chairs, complete with trellised roof, were first installed on the waterfront in 2021 as part of a trial by Eurobodalla Council to help enliven the area. They attracted overwhelming positive response and additional pods were acquired earlier this year.
Council’s manager of economic development Teresa Lever said the seating pods were situated to determine the appetite and style of more permanent seating in the future.
“Right now we have six along the Bay foreshore,” Ms Lever said.
“Three in the park immediately adjacent to the carpark footpath, two between Innes Boatshed and Starfish Deli and one next to the Clyde Street bus shelter.”
Ms Lever said the three park pods would remain in the meantime, with more resilient turf better able to tolerate climatic conditions and use also being laid down.
“The two pods south of the Boatshed will also remain until that area is redeveloped as Waterfront Square – as envisaged in the . Council’s detailed engineering and landscape design for the square is now underway. When work begins, we will relocate the temporary pods to another town or village to make way for permanent seating in a similar style,” she said.
“The pod by the bus shelter will be relocated to Narooma soon, next to the old visitor centre carpark. That’s the beauty of these pods – their portability means we can test different locations to find the ideal spot before investing in permanent structures.”
The seating pods were acquired by Council thanks to funding from the NSW Government’s Streets as Shared Spaces program.
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