That was the message hundreds of residents wanted to send to Armidale Regional Council on Saturday morning.

While the council had already announced it was withdrawing an application for $3.3 million in funding from the state government, there are concerns future funding applications could aim to reopen the mall to traffic.

Among the hundreds of residents were some councillors, including Andrew Murat, Margaret O’Connor and Peter Bailey.

The mayor, Simon Murray, arrived about 10 minutes after the rally began at 11am, crossing the Faulkner Street pedestrian crossing with a takeaway coffee, before watching proceedings from the historic post office veranda.

The crowd heard from several speakers, including local historian Graham Wilson, and the co-chair of the Save Armidale Mall committee, Michelle Wheatley.

Watch them both speak here:

“We want today’s rally to send a clear message to the council,” Rod Carr, co-chair of the committee, said when it got underway.

“We want them to come out and say ‘we’re happy to develop our mall, make some improvements, but that doesn’t include a road’,” he said.

He also called on the council to use local expertise to design an upgrade for the mall, rather than going to consultants outside the city.

“We want proper, fair dinkum, community consultation and input. We are a very lucky town, we have so many people who are prepared to offer their skills and expertise so we can make a great design for the mall that we really want.”

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