Tweed council wins award for strategic planning project

TWEED Shire Council has been recognised at the prestigious 2024 NSW Awards for Planning Excellence, taking out top honours in the ‘Strategic Planning Project’ category.

The Tweed Scenic Landscape Protection Policy was announced as the winning submission at the award ceremony in Sydney.

The policy was awarded for its ‘comprehensive guidance in assessing scenic landscape qualities’ and ‘demonstrated vision’ for the region.

Council’s director of planning and regulation Denise Galle was excited by the award and congratulated staff involved in the delivery of the strategy.

“We are delighted to receive the PIA NSW Strategic Planning Project award, a huge achievement taking into account the high standard of submissions,” Ms Galle said.

“Anchored by the majestic Wollumbin/Mt Warning at the heart of our community, the Tweed is home to many spectacular landscapes and this Strategy aims to balance environmental, social and economic considerations to develop the Shire in a sustainable way and promote good design in the built environment.

The judges noted that the policy and its interactive mapping tool could be replicated by other councils and that it reinforced the protection of the Tweed’s spectacular scenic landscapes across all government areas.

Council was further congratulated for conducting a robust and diverse consultation process over a seven-year period as part of the development of the strategy.

“This Strategy has been years in the making and involved extensive collaboration across multiple Council teams,” Ms Galle said.

“We also worked closely with the community to develop the Policy, running multiple conversations in Tyalgum, Kingscliff and Murwillumbah to hear what the community had to say about the Tweed’s scenic landscapes – it’s great to see these engagement efforts recognised at the awards.”

The Scenic Landscape Strategy was put on public exhibition in late 2022 and endorsed and implemented by council in June this year.

The win means Tweed council automatically qualifies for the 2025 National Awards for Planning Excellence.