Livable Community

We reside in a livable community, I know this as the Council has a huge sign on leaving the airport car park saying ‘Welcome to Rockhampton Region – Livable Communities’ must reassure visitors they are not about to enter a dead, dispirited or non-existent community. (‘Character Communities’ may create more interesting impressions in the visitors mind.) I believe I understand what the Council is trying to say, along the lines of Partners for Livable Communities (PLC) identifying “the core elements of liveability are economy, amenity, environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing, equity, education and learning, and leadership”. PLC adds, “Each community needs to develop its own unique strategy to reflect its own unique definition of liveability”. So what is each of our (the communities that make up Rockhampton Region) unique definitions that reflect livable communities status? One would assume the Council website would identify these. A search failed to find much reference to livable communities, ‘a related link’ labelled ‘liveability’ resulted in a statement ‘Sorry, this page does not exist’! The ‘Social Plan’ for the region adopted in 2010 does outline strategies towards improving liveability, including putting up more ‘Welcome to…’ signs. (Be interesting to know what progress on this 3 year old plan has been made.) A strategy to reflect the liveability of Rockhampton city exists with Council selling prime real estate on the riverbank adjacent to the Pilbeam Theatre. This is the block where a restaurant precinct should be developed. Close to the theatre, art gallery, pool and accommodation places (built and planned); a place where families could safely congregate at night. Make Victoria Parade between Cambridge and North Street a one way lane closed on Saturday nights enabling people to safely move between dinning and cultural activities through the night markets down to Col Brown Park, under the rail bridge to the pool and Victoria Park. The aerial picture on the front page of Saturday’s Domain shows what a near blank canvas an artist could work with in establishing a ‘South Bank’ for Rockhampton. If Council is serious about being ‘liveable’ let not the land be sold for just the highest price but to one that has a vision to reflect the liveability (or character) of Rockhampton.