THE decision to re-open the conversation around the Open Space Improvement Plan came as a result of a recommendation moved by deputy mayor David West and seconded by Councillor Trent Jennison at a Greater Taree City Council (GTCC) meeting on August 19.
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As outlined in the August 19 agenda the original Open Space Improvement Plan was placed on public exhibition from December 1, 2014 to March 27, 2015.
During this period 656 submissions were received. However, submissions mainly focused on the loss of local parks, how parks are managed and the consultation process, rather than feedback on park improvements.
As a result a more detailed engagement process is taking place over the coming months, with Harrington and Crowdy's consultation the first of the "by locality" approach.
"The initial work done on our Open Space Improvement Plan has given us great community insight, and it also highlighted the need to speak with individual communities," mayor Paul Hogan said.
"Each location is unique in the open spaces it has available, and its use of open spaces - so while the discussions will remain focused on what improvements the community wants to see, the answers we anticipate from each locality may be very different."
One of the key findings of the initial consultation as outlined in the GTCC August 19 meeting agenda was "the consultation undertaken was not effective in engaging with local communities."
GTCC's senior leader of planning and environmental services. Richard Pamplin addressed this finding when questioned by the Manning River Times.
"There were assumptions made during the initial phase of the open space improvement process that community members understood the project's background and its aims, but the feedback we received indicated otherwise," he said.
"Breaking the consultations down by individual locations will help us have more meaningful conversations and outcomes. The objective is a local action plan highlighting improvements that each community has identified as achievable.
"The localised approach to our next phase of consultation means we can be more interactive with communities.
"Workshops along the lines of the one we ran in (Taree's) Ruprecht Park during the initial phase will form the basis of these consultations.
"Ruprecht Park was a good example of promoting healthy discussion amongst the community and providing a forum where ideas could be tabled, debated, refined and collated," Mr Pamplin said.
