Community Connect Issue 47

Cawarra Park Draft Master Plan on Public Exhibition

Council has been engaging with the community to prepare a Draft Master Plan for Cawarra Park in Ballina.

The park currently contains baseball/softball sports fields and amenities, practice nets and a storage facility for non-powered watercraft including dragon boats and outriggers.

During community consultation earlier this year, the community told us that Cawarra Park is a highly valued public reserve which not only supports active field sports and water sports but also provides a place for passive recreation and leisure for nearby residents.

Some of the preferred outcomes expressed in community feedback to date include:

- A new or renovated sports amenity building

- Public toilet, shower and change facilities

- A secure area to store water-based recreation equipment

- Shade trees

- Formalised roadside parking

- Landscaping and gardens

- Improved accessibility

The engagement also highlighted aspirations for ongoing and future use of Cawarra Park for formalised sport. Some people in the community would like to see the parkland continue to accommodate baseball/softball and others have indicated a preference for Cawarra Park to incorporate new croquet facilities.

This has resulted in two scenarios being presented in the draft master plan. Most of the works under both options currently are unfunded.

Have your say

Council is now seeking community feedback on the Cawarra Park Draft Master Plan. Have we got the priorities right? Does the long term vision meet the needs of our community?

Have your say at ballina.nsw.gov.au/CawarraParkMasterPlanSubmissions close Wednesday 13 July 2022.

Feedback from the public exhibition process will be considered and used to inform a final master plan, which will act as a strategic tool to support future grant funding and planning for implementation of improvement works.