Smiths Sports Shoes owner Greg Lapwood said since the bus hub opened there had been a lack of responsiveness from both the Otago Regional Council (ORC) and Dunedin City Council (DCC) in addressing issues.
"Whenever I tried to deal with them over issues in the hub their first response is to blame the other or say it’s not their problem or hide behind a generic customer service email address," Mr Lapwood said.
"As for the [central city] advisory group, what have they achieved? I’d suggest nothing."
The advisory group was formed after the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old schoolboy Enere Taana-McLaren at the bus hub last year.
Included in a report listing actions by the group were the results of a survey jointly-led by the Dunedin Student Council and Trinity Catholic College, both of whom have representatives on the advisory group, which found 45% of 1300 Dunedin secondary school students did not feel safe in the inner city.
Mr Lapwood — who has owned the Great King St business for the past nine years — said he had tried to get on to the group to represent retailers in the hub.
But he believed his knowledge about the area was questioned and he had been "banned" from it because they did not want to hear the truth, he said.
"Not one person from the [group] has asked me about the issues in the bus hub.
"In fact, the group seems to be rather secretive in their meetings and their ideas to improve the hub.
"They seem to think their greatest achievement is the survey they did with students to say they didn’t feel safe ... I could of told them that."
He also questioned why Otago Girls’ High School principal Bridget Davidson had raised concerns about safety at the hub "when there has been many times her students have caused problems".
He had previously contacted many schools about the behaviour of their students in the hub, but was told they could not do anything about it.
"And one school told me to butt out."
Mrs Davidson yesterday said the school had been proactive in promoting alternative bus routes to school.
The school was working with the inner-city safety initiative across all schools, which its head prefects had promoted at a recent inter-school event and would be followed up at assemblies across all schools in the city.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich disagreed with Mr Lapwood’s characterisation of their efforts.
Representatives from the DCC were working closely with the ORC and a wide range of other stakeholders involved in the central city advisory group.
This included Business South, who was representing businesses in the area, he said.
"We are seeing results. There are less incidents happening."
Improved CCTV surveillance, more regular police and improved security patrols had all helped.
The advisory group was focused on developing short, medium and long-term changes to improve safety in the central city, and it was committed to these efforts, Mr Radich said.
ORC chief executive Richard Saunders said staff had "a number of interactions" with Mr Lapwood to understand his concerns and take action where appropriate.
"We appreciate that as a business owner within the bus hub he has unique insights which are valuable for staff."
There was "nothing secretive" about the advisory group’s work, as was evident by the public report included in today’s public and active transport committee agenda.
The council would continue to be a committed member of the advisory group, Mr Saunders said.
ORC chairwoman Gretchen Robertson said the council-commissioned "Strengthening Safety in Dunedin’s Central City — Insights" report would be presented to the council today and was publicly available.
It built on steps already taken — such as the council’s security patrols and behaviour campaigns — and would help to shape the next phase of work which would feed through to multiple agency responses based on evidence, Cr Robertson said.
