Media Release
29 June 2022
North Parklands Community Feedback
After an extensive six-week consultation period, Naracoorte Lucindale Council has released the results of a recent survey outlining the community’s wishes and expectations for the North Parklands.
With a total of 396 responses received, the consultation was of significant interest and importance to the community and provides Council with an overview of the community’s wishes moving forward.
Engagement activities included signage and QR codes, community drop-in sessions, face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders, emails to key stakeholders, Your Say online engagement platform established with supporting documentation, hard copy and online survey forms, FAQ sheets, Facebook posts, media releases and radio interviews.
Chief Executive Officer Trevor Smart said he was pleased so many people participated and thanked the community for their input.
“We had excellent attendance at the community drop-in sessions, face-to-face meetings and great comments throughout the survey, including ideas for further improvements and new projects for the area.
“Most people would associate the North Parklands as being the Naracoorte Nature Park. However, the Nature Park is located within the North Parklands area and there are other dedicated land use areas including the Naracoorte Swimming Lake, Naracoorte Cemetery, Naracoorte Golf Course, Forestry Land and Naracoorte & District Sports Centre. It was really important through this consultation that the community gained a better understanding of the overall area and any potential within each parcel of land.
“As Council outlined in its North Parklands Engagement Plan the intent of the community consultation was to raise awareness of the North Parklands, provide an opportunity for issues and ideas to be raised and gauge if there was any appetite for development. General comments were invited from respondents, and Council received a mix of feedback including some people being open to the idea of development in the right location and the majority not open to any changes to land use at all.”
In summary, most feedback from the community was centred around recreational improvements balanced with conservation activities and the respondents identified the area is an asset for wellbeing, tourism and an attractive value-add for people currently living in Naracoorte or encouraging new people to reside in Naracoorte.
In response to the key survey question “Do you support development in the North Parklands?”, 255 (64.4%) of people were against any development, 99 or 25% were neutral subject to further information, and 42 or 10.6% supported development.
Of the people that supported development, main support was for additional recreational facilities and open spaces and there was some support for residential development and new tourism opportunities.
The survey canvassed for ideas on the various parcels of land in the North Parklands and there was strong support for conservation in the forestry land, no change to current land use for the sport and recreational land and no change to the current land use in and around the golf course. In regards to the cemetery land, it was almost a 50/50 split with 53% agreeing with no change to current land dedication versus 43% supporting expansion to increase the size of the cemetery.
The survey also revealed what people love about the North Parklands. Respondents love the open spaces and trails and the proximity of the North Parklands to Naracoorte. They also enjoy the swimming lake, the flora and fauna and overall the natural beauty and tranquillity of the setting. Overwhelming the Naracoorte North Parklands is seen as a significant asset for the community and provides a great balance between natural and urban environments offering residents the best of both.
In regards to changes or future improvements in the North Parklands, a suite of ideas and potential future projects were identified, such as new signage and trails, more rubbish bins, seating and shelter, nature play and overall connectivity of the area. Some respondents commented that they were open to the idea of selling land adjacent to the golf course for a residential development.
In the coming weeks, Council will undertake a workshop to consider the survey feedback and general comments in greater detail as well as prepare a response to the Department of Environment and Water outlining Council’s intentions with the North Parklands area.
Council would like to acknowledge members of the community who participated directly in this consultation.