Central Park forum reveals wide range of opinions

The online community forum for the Kingscliff Central Park concept plans reached its midway point last weekend, with many community members taking the opportunity to have their say.

The month-long forum has revealed a wide variety of opinions and will be conducted by Tweed Shire Council until 12 April.

Council's Senior Design Engineer, Warren Boyd, said while the forum had attracted a large number of comments, it was important to focus on the primary focus of this forum and the overall community engagement campaign.

"This is really about fine-tuning the design of Kingscliff Central Park, to ensure it contains the features and facilities the community wants," Mr Boyd said.

"A previous round of public consultation in 2007, to create the Kingscliff Foreshore Master Plan, identified what the community wanted at each section of the town's foreshore. There was clear cut support for a reduction in the size of the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park and the creation of a community park in the land it vacated.

"The online forum and other initiatives in the current engagement campaign aims to take planning to the next stage, to decide what will go in that Central Park."

Mr Boyd said the foreshore master plan mapped out a staged upgrade of the whole Kingscliff foreshore from Cudgen Creek to the Kingscliff North Holiday Park.

"It specifically identifies the site between the Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club and Kingscliff Beach Club for the Central Park, which will serve as a community hub and strategic link between the beach and Kingscliff's central business district," he said.

Council does not currently have the funds required to create Central Park, however, the project gained added momentum last week when it was incorporated into a list of projects for a regional development plan.

It was one of five projects identified by the March Council meeting for inclusion in a Northern Rivers Regional Plan. It will be considered by Regional Development Australia – Northern Rivers panel for inclusion in the finalised plan, along with major regional development initiatives throughout the Northern Rivers.