Councillor Matt Cowley wants to apply elements of shopping mall design to the Tauranga CBD to make it more people friendly.

He's started the process by posting a suggested layout or traffic flow proposal on the ‘Matt Cowley for Tauranga' Facebook page seeking feedback.

Councillor Matt Cowley wants more people in the city.

The aim is to make the CBD more people friendly, easier to drive through and an easier place to find a park.

Feedback so far has been light, but no one's found any fatal flaws with the proposal yet, says Matt.

'It's around creating an environment that works really well like a mall, a shopping mall.

'It revolves around the people, rather than the cars. The cars are parked in close proximity to the road but all the shops are put together so people can walk through. There's pedestrian free flow throughout the centre and I suppose I wanted to take things that worked really well in shopping malls and apply that to the CBD,” says Matt.

'The whole perspective of it is to make the CBD people friendly again, it's part of what brings people in, whether it's Trustpower or the tertiary institute.”

The previous council changed planning restrictions to make it easier for a wider range of people to live in the city, in close proximity to the amenities of the CBD.

'We obviously need to engage the regional council on the bus routes, that bus station, that transfer station as well as the coach lines. There's a bit of uncertainty there.”

Matt also wants to keep it practical. The recent long Term Plan process identified Durham Street, Hamilton Street and Harrington Street as top priorities for getting streetscapes done.

'It's really about keeping things affordable, keeping things practical and keeping consistent with what we have developed in the long term plan,” says Matt.

He says on The Strand the diners could got out further into the roadway, so the public could walk under the verandas.

'The biggest issue with that of course is liquor licencing rules.”

There's a lot of cogs involved, says Matt, and some of the ideas might prove practically unworkable, but he still wants to have the discussion.

'I'm definitely open to all ideas.”