Your say has helped us understand how you play

Published on 02 August 2021

Cr Rutherford Bill Neven Park .JPG

Earlier this year, the community were invited to provide feedback in two surveys aimed at helping guide Rockhampton Regional Council’s planning and maintenance priorities for parks across the Region.

Parks, Sport and Public Spaces Councillor Cherie Rutherford says that both the ‘Dog off-leash Area Survey’ and the ‘Our Community Parks Survey’ received a high level of engagement and provided some fantastic insights.

“Firstly, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in these surveys and it was very reassuring to see how invested our community are in our parks and open spaces,” Cr Rutherford said.

“From December through to February we opened the Dog off-leash Area Survey, where we received some very constructive feedback.

“We now have a much better picture of not only where the community would like to see new off-leash areas, but how people use our existing spaces and of course, some of the desired improvements.

“We have allocated $240,000 over the next two years to these improvements and to the creation of new off-leash areas, which I am sure the community are looking forward to hearing more about.”

Councillor Cherie Rutherford also said the ‘Our Community Parks Survey’ was designed to gain specific data on how the community use the smaller community parks across the Region and how they feel about the facilities within them.

“This is valuable information that will ultimately help guide our maintenance and planning priorities, ensuring that our resources are allocated where they are most needed and valued by our community,” Cr Rutherford said.

“Over the next financial year we have allowed for more than $1.4 million in new parks infrastructure with close to $900,000 being allocated to renewal projects such as; playground, footpath, irrigation and parking renewals.

“What we can see from the survey results is that people overwhelmingly recognise the importance these spaces play in their health and wellbeing – and we do too!

“We recognise that the community has a wish list of what they would like to see in terms of new infrastructure but we also need to reconcile that with some of the higher priority renewal projects.

“It is about striving to strike a balance in keeping our existing assets maintained, while introducing some exciting new projects – so watch this space!”