Council is developing an Open Space and Recreation Strategy to guide planning, managing, creating and maintaining outdoor spaces in the MidCoast local government area, and is inviting everyone to be involved.
Council would like to hear about your vision and aspirations for our neighbourhood, and for district and regional outdoor spaces.
The project aims to build upon the plans and strategies from the three former LGAs (Great Lakes, Gloucester and Taree) to create a single Open Space and Recreation Strategy for MidCoast.
The strategy will be developed using utilise best practice recreation and open space planning, current demographic and asset data, and community input.
It will help to guide Council’s decision making on open space and recreation facilities across MidCoast for the period 2023 to 2036. The timeframe to 2036 aligns with MidCoast Council’s population forecasts, giving Council a thirteen-year plan to address its open space and recreation needs.
The strategy does not apply to privately owned or managed outdoor spaces. However, these spaces and the sport and recreation opportunities they provide will be considered in the development of the strategy.
The first stage of the strategy involves community consultation utilising survey and mapping tools for people to tell Council how they value outdoor spaces in the MidCoast and to provide feedback on the Draft Open Space and Recreation Needs Analysis. The purpose of this is analysis is to review the distribution of current recreational facilities and identify a need for new and updated facilities for the MidCoast.
The strategy can be accessed through Council's "Have your say" website - click on this link to access it - Draft Open Space and Recreation Strategy. This website includes on-line surveys and a map for mapping your ideas and showing the locations for your favourite parks.
As part of this Council would like feedback on the Draft Open Space and Recreation Needs Analysis. I have attached a copy of this analysis for downloading.
We have a number of Council owned open spaces and parks in North Arm Cove, including Casuarina Park, Medina Bay, Heros Beach, Yallarwah Park and the Community Centre facilities.
It is important that we tell Council what they think about these places and how we would like to see them developed in the future - the final strategy will determine what happens with our open spaces and parks over the next decade.
