Tweed wins two major awards for planning excellence
01 December 2020
Kingscliff Locality Plan and Rural Land Strategy recognised
Tweed Shire Council has won two categories at the NSW Awards for Planning Excellence which recognise and acknowledge quality, innovation and excellence in planning across the state.
The Kingscliff Locality Plan and Development Control Plan took out the Public Engagement and Community Planning category at the virtual ceremony on 27 November. The Rural Land Strategy was also recognised as a Hard Won Victory after Council adopted the Strategy in May this year following an extensive seven-year development process.
The Kingscliff Locality Plan and Development Control Plan was awarded for its “visionary, innovative and
design-led” public engagement. The judges noted that the project set a benchmark for how councils can consult with a broad spectrum of the community on complex planning matters in new, inclusive, innovative and fun ways and commended its ‘community up’ rather than a ‘top down’ approach to drafting long-term strategic planning frameworks.
Mayor of Tweed Chris Cherry congratulated the staff involved in producing the two award-winning documents.
“Strategic planning is all about balancing the future long-term needs of our community with the short-term needs of today’s residents and finding that middle ground, which I believe both the Kingscliff Locality Plan and the Rural Land Strategy have done very well,” Cr Cherry said.
Council’s Director Planning and Regulation Vince Connell said Council worked in true partnership with the community to establish a 30-year vision and planning framework to develop the Kingscliff Locality Plan and Development Control Plan, with community participation at the core of this approach.
“It is great to be recognised for the extensive engagement we did to involve the community at each stage of the project’s journey including the community reference panel, 2-day enquiry by-design workshop, shopfront exhibition in Kingscliff and block model workshops,” Mr Connell said.
The Rural Land Strategy won the Hard Won Victory Award which recognises projects that have applied innovative solutions and use of planning tools and techniques to address challenges, resulting in significant community benefits. The judges commended the balanced approach taken by Tweed Shire Council to establish a strategy that is considerate of a range of attitudes and expectations and commended Council given its challenges.
“We managed to overcome a range of technical, social and political challenges during the development of the Rural Land Strategy. The extensive stakeholder engagement we did throughout the development of the strategy to ensure all perspectives were heard enabled Council to adopt the final document in May this year after a particularly long period of development,” Mr Connell said.
In total, 35 Community Conversation events, forums, information sessions, drop-ins and over 300 days of public exhibition ensured that the entire community had an opportunity to have their say on the Draft Rural Land Strategy.
The result is a strategy that balances the rural community’s sometimes competing desires and sets out policy directions and actions to help achieve its vision for the future of rural lands in the Tweed. The strategy seeks to protect agricultural land and support its productive use, provide greater diversity of housing opportunities, expand employment and income generating opportunities, provide greater flexibility in the local land-use planning system and protect and enhance environmental land.
“I’d like to thank the NSW Planning Institute of Australia for recognising our work to plan for the Tweed’s long-term future and also thank the Tweed community for working with us to develop these important planning documents,” he said.
For more information on the Kingscliff Locality Plan and Development Control Plan and the Rural Land Strategy visit yoursaytweed.com.au
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Caption: The Kingscliff Locality Plan and Development Control Plan was recognised at the NSW Awards for Planning Excellence, taking out the Public Engagement and Community Planning category.
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Caption: The Rural Land Strategy was recognised as a Hard Won Victory at the awards after Council adopted the Strategy in May this year following an extensive seven-year development process.