Future Hepburn community submission deadline extended

Published on 04 June 2024

Hepburn Shire Council’s draft Township Structure Plans and Rural Hepburn strategy are currently open for public consideration and consultation. Council has now extended the consultation period by a further two weeks, until 26th June, to allow more time for the community to consider the Plans and submit their feedback.

The construction of these plans, as part of Future Hepburn, has been a long-term project and Council is keen to continue to hear from the community. Councillors and planning officers have attended many community sessions and spoken to many interested parties since the release of the draft documents on 1 May. Feedback to date has been important for officers and Councillors to further assess the community’s views and concerns and will shortly provide a summary of Frequently Asked Questions with responses.

Mayor, Cr Brian Hood said, ‘Thank you to all who have already lodged their submissions. We know there is a lot of detail and so we’ve decided to extend the consultation period so we can gain more insights from the community. Though the deadline is extended by a fortnight, it will still give us time to fully consider that feedback and work to adopt the strategy in early September. I encourage every resident to access the information via Council’s ‘Participate Hepburn’ page. This is a once-in-a-generation planning strategy that will guide development for many years to come.’

‘The submissions will all be considered by Councillors, and I can assure community members that we are taking all feedback into account and will continue to do so before we consider possible adoption’, said Mayor Hood.

The Rural Hepburn strategy provides a comprehensive planning and action framework for the use and development of private rural land. It will provide a safeguard for our rural land. Initial community feedback reaffirms that agricultural land is highly valued, contributes significant economic benefits, that conservation and biodiversity are important, and that rural tourism is a significant growth contributor. The strategy proposes to introduce contemporary and clearer planning provisions, so getting feedback from community on these options is important.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Bradley Thomas says, ‘Community engagement has been integral in providing further local knowledge, the small, but highly skilled Strategic Planning team have gathered great insights from the community and submissions to date, which they will review and provide recommendations to Councillors.’

Council has held face-to-face meetings in each of its townships, which attracted many interested individuals. Online there has been thousands of visits to the Participate Hepburn site, and there has been almost 500 people complete the survey.

For further information please visit Future Hepburn | Participate Hepburn or email strategicplanning@hepburn.vic.gov.au