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The Tweed community has responded to calls to work together with Council to plan ahead so the Shire grows and evolves in a well-managed and sustainable way.
Residents, representatives from local resident and ratepayer groups, community groups and local urban planning consultants attended interactive community briefing sessions in August and September to share their views on how they would like to see the Tweed grow. They also looked at what should be considered when planning for the future of housing and employment land in the Tweed.
The early-stage consultation forms the first phase of the development of a Growth Management and Housing Strategy which aims to guide growth in a way that maintains the Tweed’s desirable lifestyle, strong community, unique character and environment and continues to offer opportunities for residents to thrive.
Tweed Shire Council Unit Coordinator, Strategic Planning and Urban Design, Iain Lonsdale said he was pleased with the community’s response, with more than 900 visits to Council’s online engagement website, Your Say Tweed, during this early-stage consultation.
“Almost 300 local people of all ages, from many parts of the Tweed, completed the online survey,” Mr Lonsdale said.
“Interestingly, 40% of survey respondents have lived in the Tweed more than 20 years, 39% between 10-20 years and the remainder moved to the Tweed in the past 10 years.”
Some of the community’s feedback includes:
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The natural environment, access to the coastline and rural landscapes are part of what makes the Tweed a great place to live.
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Local people value our open, green space and scenic views, our lifestyle and the convenience of living close to services and facilities.
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People want to see bushland, tree-lined streets and the Tweed's heritage, character and identity preserved. They also want to see improved transport infrastructure and services (roads, public transport, walkways and cycleways). Housing affordability is also highly valued.
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The majority indicated they think population growth should be accommodated either as redevelopment within existing residential areas of the Tweed or as a combination of existing and outside existing residential areas. Many accepted this might mean medium to higher density dwellings such as residential flat buildings and townhouses, or smaller-sized suburban blocks with detached or semi-detached houses and smaller yard space may be needed to accommodate this growth.
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The vast majority of people felt it was very important for the Tweed to have bushland/rural/urban breaks to separate our built-up urban areas and our rural towns.
Mr Lonsdale said the information would be used to draft an Issues Paper to guide Council’s planning moving forward.
“We will now work with our consultants to prepare an Issues Paper that is informed by the community’s feedback and input from the Project Reference Group, other stakeholder engagement and research,” he said.
“We invite the community to review the draft Issues Paper when it is placed on public exhibition in the next month or so and make comments before it is finalised.”
For more information visit yoursaytweed.com.au/growth-management-and-housing-strategy.
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