11 May 2009
Tamworth Regional Council has dedicated the national Tidy Town award win to a broad band of community supporters and volunteers who have a dedicated pride and loyalty to making the city a great place.
General Manager Glenn Inglis says the award announcement earlier tonight by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Government House was a terrific endorsement of the great work so many people do to make their community a sustainable, socially rich environment that takes account of its people, its place and its future.
“It is a great win for the city in the 40th year of the Tidy Town awards and Tamworth is proud to wear the title,” Mr Inglis said.
He said the environmental and green attitudes of work, life and play had also contributed to Tamworth polling so well in the judging, particularly in relation to recycling, waste management, energy savings plans, and even the new 100% effluent re-use farm.
Mayor James Treloar was in Canberra for the awards and paid tribute to the work of so many community groups, particularly the Tidy Town committee and the other 45 special groups set up under the umbrella of TRC that look after their local places.
“The judging of the award is not so much how pretty we look – but more about how community-minded Tamworth and the residents of the council region are,” Councillor Treloar said.
“It’s also about the civic pride we show.”
Tamworth earlier in the evening had been named the national winner of the Community Action and the Energy Innovation awards, two of the 10 award categories that decided the final winner.
Judging in Tamworth last December included an assessment of over 40 different city spaces.
There are 11 categories in the national title, from community action, partnerships, litter prevention, resource recovery, environmental innovation, water conservation, energy innovation, environmental protection, youth achievement, heritage and culture, and the overall Dame Phyllis Frost Award for the supreme champion, named after the Keep Australia Beautiful founder.
Tamworth’s judging round included inspections and tours of gardens and parks, Forest Rd landfill, schools, memorials, sports grounds, landcare areas, museums, Penfords, the equine centre, housing developments, residential sustainable gardens, Calala water treatment works and Meals on Wheels. The fact that the judging was a couple days after Tamworth had been declared a natural disaster area from devastating storms and flooding did not count against it. Keep Australia Beautiful said the awards were more about promoting a program of sustainable community pride and endeavour and it was the partnerships of Tidy Town committees and councils that counted.The judge met with more than 20 different groups, residents and businesses who are part of the community action Tamworth sees under its Tidy Towns and civic partnerships, including many of the 44 355 committees across the council region.