Part 3 Recommendations

The Tweed Heads area has the inherent characteristics needed to create a vibrant and successful town centre. It sits in the heart of one of Australia's fastest growing areas and one of the country's largest tourist destinations. It is already home to a variety of major commercial, retail, entertainment, civic, educational and recreational facilities. And its urban form has the qualities needed to create a new social and commercial focus.

Despite these advantages, several key challenges must be met to establish a town centre in Tweed Heads. The area needs a larger and more diverse local resident population. It needs to enhance the linkages between its major retail and entertainment facilities, and it should become a tourist destination by capitalising on its natural attractions and creating distinct new sources of appeal to visitors. Most important, Tweed Heads needs to define its social and commercial heart, establish a vision and action plan for creating that heart, and put in place the management team and planning instruments that will facilitate its development.

The objective of this analysis was to identify the opportunity to create a successful and sustainable town centre at Tweed Heads, and provide a recommended framework for doing so. The program has been a co-operative effort between the consulting team and the Tweed Heads Ministerial Task Force, with input from the area's major stakeholders and a variety of others who have knowledge, experience and a passionate interest in the future of Tweed Heads.

This assessment is just the first step. It is now essential that the recommendations are implemented and managed over the long term. If the program is established as recommended, we are confident that it will result in the creation of a vibrant and successful new commercial and community heart for Tweed Heads.