News

If you own a cat and live in Tweed Shire, you’re invited to click here to complete a short confidential survey.

The feedback you provide will help give Council a picture of current behaviours of cat owners and behaviours cat owners are most likely to adopt in the future.

A number of $25 pet supplies vouchers will be up for grabs for people who complete the survey.

‘Living and Loving the Tweed’ is the theme of Council’s Draft Community Strategic Plan 2017-2027 which went on public exhibition in early January for community comment.

Click here to access the Draft Community Strategic Plan or for information about making a submission please visit www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/OnExhibition

The plan aims to document the community’s priorities for the next decade and to define Council’s related goals, strategies, actions and targets.

“We need to balance change to maintain the special characteristics of the Tweed that contribute to the area’s unique identity,” Council’s Director Corporate Services, Liz Collyer said.

“This plan sets out the community’s vision and Council’s commitment for the Tweed for the next 10 years.

“The draft plan has been shaped by many contributions from the community through our shire-wide survey and events with the team from our Community Engagement Network.

“A comprehensive community engagement process over the plan’s exhibition period will provide a variety of ways for people to learn more about the plan and continue the converstaion.”

A final version of the Community Strategic Plan will be presented to Council for adoption in March this year, accompanied by a delivery program which outlines the projects to be undertaken to achieve the plan’s broader visions.

Council warmly welcomes your continued involvement in the Community Strategic Plan discussions. For times/locations of community engagement activities and the related ‘Tweed the Future is Ours’ initiative, please visit:

http://yoursaytweed.com.au/ttfio

The deadline for the Tweed River Estuary Management Program survey has been extended until 19 November, so more people can provide their input.

Click here to complete the online survey.

Printed copies are available at Council’s Murwillumbah and Tweed offices and the libraries.

Click here to visit the Tweed River Estuary Management Program page.

Council staff will be on hand at the Murwillumbah Show on Friday 4 November and Saturday 5 November, as well as the Tweed River Festival family day at Tumbulgum on Saturday 12 November, to help people complete the survey.

You can also click here to provide comments and upload photos about:

• important locations or issues
• what the Tweed River Estuary means to you
• how you enjoy the Tweed River

Tweed residents are being asked how they use the Tweed River Estuary and their priorities for its management, to help produce a new plan to balance the waterway’s use and preservation.

Council is preparing a Tweed River Estuary Coastal Management Program will provide recommendations for the future management of this important waterway, and will follow NSW government guidelines for coastal management.

The Tweed River Estuary is the tidal section of the river, a 35km stretch between the Bray Park Weir at Murwillumbah and the river mouth at Tweed Heads.

The Tweed River Estuary is many things to many people and community members will be invited to provide their feedback to help guide the plan’s priorities. The scenic waterway and picturesque surrounds are used extensively for recreational activities and are extremely important to the local community.

The Estuary has a diversity of habitats for a wide variety of plants and animals and is home to a number of protected flora and fauna species.

It can be difficult to balance recreational, commercial and environmental priorities in a busy and popular waterway like the Tweed River, particularly in the face of population growth and rising sea levels.

The management plan will identify actions that can be implemented by Council, government agencies and the community to achieve the right balance between the many uses and to protect nature, scenic and recreational values, livelihoods and cultural practices.

Click here to share your stories about how you use the Tweed River Estuary.

Council will commission new public artworks for the town centres in Murwillumbah and Kingscliff, to create attractive entrances to each locality and celebrate local identity and the environment.

Community members are being asked to provide their feedback on the features, characteristics or people of these towns that are important and should be reflected by the artworks.

Are there individual people and stories that should be celebrated?

Click here to share your vision for your town and tell us what physical and cultural features should be harnessed to reflect and strengthen a sense of place through art.

Kayakers, canoeists and other paddlers are invited to provide their input for plans to install a launch facility for non-powered vessels on the Tweed River.

Col Wiley Park at Byangum has been identified as the site for the launch facility for a number of reasons:

• access to the Tweed and Oxley Rivers
• access to the road network from Kyogle Road
• its currently used by recreational paddlers and has basic onshore facilities
• waterways in this location are already limited to non-powered vessels, limiting potential for conflicting between different users
• good potential for expansion, both onshore facilities and creation of a canoe trails or similar initiative

Two concepts designs have been produced for the launch, which would make it safer and easier for people to get canoes and other non-powered vessels in an out of the river.

Click here to read a brief about the launch facility or view:

• Design Option 1
• Design Option 2
• Access path options
• A locality sketch

Printed copies of the survey are available at Council’s offices in Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads.

For further information, contact Matt Lee on (02) 6670 2767.

A timber boardwalk at Keith Curran Reserve in Tweed Heads has been closed to public access because of public safety concerns about the ageing structure.

It is believed the boardwalk, located on the northern side of Anchorage Island, was constructed in the early 1990s to enable users to walk out over the mangroves and provide access to public land in the Anchorage development.

A routine inspection of the boardwalk in April 2016 revealed several sections of the 200-metre-long structure have reached the end of their lifespan. As a result, the full length of the structure will be closed while Council identifies necessary repairs and considers available options, including:

o Renewing the existing structure

· Investigate the state of the existing piles and other structural components and their capacity to comply with current Australian Standards.

· If this review is favourable:

· consider options and estimate costs to renew the structure

· estimate how long the useful life of the structure would be extended by the repairs

o Remove and replace the structure

· Consider the existing structure’s purpose and identify options that would fulfil this purpose.

· The replacement structure might be different in form to the existing boardwalk.

o Remove the structure with no replacement

Public expectations, environmental and social values and budgetary constraints will be considered when assessing all three options.

As part of those considerations, Council would like to know the level of public use and invites feedback from the community. Click here to email your feedback.

Around 2000 people took the opportunity to visit the Kingscliff Matters shopfront while the pop-up store was open in Marine Parade for nine weeks.

Thank you to everyone who dropped into the temporary shopfront while it was open from 22 February to 22 April, to answer questions and provide further information about a number of current projects important to the Kingscliff district.

Many of the town's residents and many visitors to the popular seaside destination spent time at talking to Council staff about the Kingscliff Foreshore Revitalisation, the Kingscliff Locality Plan and Kingscliff - Dreamtime Beach Coastal Zone Management Plan.

Keep an eye on the Your Say Tweed pages for each of these projects for further updates, including feedback received at the shopfront.

A new Tweed Shire Youth Council met for the first time on Wednesday 24 February, bringing together second school students from throughout the district.

The Tweed Shire Youth Council is a student leadership and civic program to involve young people in local government decision making, to build a resilient youth population and provide opportunities for young people to reach their full potential.

Click here to find out more.