The first on-the-ground step in the grand master plan to improve and diversify Lake Glenbawn was taken on Tuesday.
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Several meetings and preliminary planning has taken place, but this week officials from the New South Wales Crown Holiday Parks Trust design team visited Glenbawn to carry out ground-truthing to see how the plans will work.
Among the team was the chief executive officer Steve Edmonds and the Lake Glenbawn park manager Brenton Merchant who are both very excited to start moving forward with the 10-year master plan.
Lake Glenbawn is one of eight parks currently being upgraded by the Inland Waters Holiday Parks team.
Speaking to The Scone Advocate, Mr Edmonds said it was great to visit Glenbawn and visualise the plans and concepts to develop and expand the park.
Some of the suggested options include increasing the cabin stock, creating new camping sites and improving infrastructure.
“We already have some broad concepts and we will be working with the Upper Hunter Shire Council Economic Development and Tourism Committee to further develop our plans,” Mr Edmonds said.
“We also plan to get key stakeholders on board, such as the Chamber of Commerce, fishing clubs, boating groups and other user groups to get their feedback.
“It’s going to be a long process, but we want to maximise the engagement with the people and we’re really keen to hear people’s ideas for the park to improve and expand it.”
The parks trust has a total of $11.5 million to upgrade the eight recreation parks with the aim of ensuring the parks are performing for the people of the area they are situated within.
“The local park is really important for the local community and we want to improve it to the community’s benefit.”
Mr Edmonds said it is critical to ground-truth the park in preparation for the master plan which will provide a map for future park development over the next 10 years.
“Ground-truthing involves testing site opportunities against any site constraints.
“We need to ascertain the priorities for each of our parks and are looking forward to starting the master plan process which involves a rigorous ground-truthing procedure,” he said.
“Our holiday parks and recreation reserves are for everyone to enjoy and it is important that we give stakeholders the opportunity to bring their local expertise to the table during the early stages of planning.”
