How do you use our open spaces?

The parks and open spaces survey attracted over 700 responses from locals and visitors who scanned signs in local parks to let us know what they loved about the space they were using or suggested improvements.

Thank you for taking the time to offer feedback!

Council manages hundreds of open spaces and buildings on behalf of the community, so the feedback given from users is vital as we undertake an assets review to plan for future management.

The survey had specific questions around usage levels and activities, with many respondents using the spaces on a weekly basis with natural amenity, trees and seating being a big drawcard for many.

Many also took the time to offer suggestions or feedback in the open comments section.

Every bit of information submitted to us gets reviewed and input into the final report to help guide our maintenance and planning priorities!

The background

As part of our assets and service planning, we wanted to get a good understanding of how often our local playgrounds and park spaces are used.

We wanted to make sure that we heard from as many people as possible to ensure we have the information we need to help guide our maintenance and planning priorities.

We want to understand not only how people use these spaces, but also how they feel about the condition of our parks and the facilities within them.

We know that some of our larger riverside playgrounds are important tourism assets for our region, but equally as important are the smaller local parks dotted around our communities.

Whether it is taking the kids to the playground, getting in some exercise, having a BBQ, or holding a birthday party, we all use these spaces for so many different reasons.

But we need to get some more accurate data around this.

Are spaces used often? Or only occasionally?