Community engagement
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Council shares your passion and pride in the Tweed.
We're committed to working with the community to make better decisions in the interests of the Tweed.
Read more about how we plan for the future and report our progress to the community.
Engaging with our community
Our responsibility is to consider a broad cross-section of views from the community when making decisions.
Professional staff provide guidance on policy, legal and statutory matters.
Councillors are well informed, and as elected representatives make final decisions that they believe are in the best interests of the Tweed as a whole.
The Community Engagement and Participation Plan(PDF, 5MB) sets out a whole-of-council commitment to community engagement where the Tweed community will be:
- encouraged to make recommendations to Council
- informed about issues and decisions that could significantly affect their future
- able to raise issues and have their say, in a way and at a time that suits them
- confident that their views have been considered and will have access to feedback.
Read more about the Community Engagement and Participation Plan.
Stay informed
Keep up to date on Council news and to access opportunities to learn more and have your say on Council matters:
Be involved
- Register to Your Say Tweed to learn more about Council projects seeking community feedback, have your say and contribute to decision making at a time and place that suits you.
- View Council items on exhibition - A public exhibition provides a formal opportunity for the community to provide comment on a document or other Council matter.
- View advertised Development Applications (DAs) - A DA is a formal request for consent to carry out proposed development. This could include change of use of land, subdividing land, carrying out work on a building, and landscaping. The DA Tracker provides a summary of the stages that the application has gone through.
- Attend Council meetings and public forums - The community are invited to attend Council meetings. Public forum sessions held prior to the Council meeting on the third Thursday of the month also provide the public with an opportunity to address Councillors about matters on the Council agenda.
- Petitions - present a petition to a meeting of Council. For information on what qualifies as a petition and how Council receives them see the Code of Meeting Practice (Model) Policy(PDF, 560KB)
Contact us if you have any questions or would like to speak with our staff.
Community Engagement and Participation Plan
This Plan combines the Community Engagement Strategy (a requirement of the Local Government Act 1993) with the Community Participation Plan (a requirement under the Environmental Protection and Assessment Act 1979).
The result is a document that makes it easier for the community to understand how, when and on what they can expect Council to engage with them, no matter what part of Council is managing the project.
How will it improve engagement with the Tweed community?
The strategy outlines the processes for Council to inform the community about strategic planning and decision making processes, to ensure engagement across the organisation is consistent and maintains the levels defined by the International Association of Public Participation. The strategy:
- defines community engagement and identifies the methods of engagement Council uses for the key stages of engagement – inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower
- identifies the broad categories of Council projects which require engagement
- provides an Engagement Matrix to align the methods of engagement with the category of Council projects.