Strong Progress on Sustainability
Published on 22 May 2024
Hepburn Shire Council’s ambitious Sustainable Hepburn Strategy (2022-2026) is progressing well in all of its primary focus areas. The strategy, co-designed with the community and adopted in 2022, considers matters such as the natural environment & biodiversity, beyond zero emissions, climate resilience and the target of a low waste Shire.
At the mid-point of the strategy a high number of the planned actions are completed or on track for completion.
Mayor, Cr Brian Hood, is enthusiastic about this progress and said that in the past year, Hepburn Shire has run a successful sustainability expo with approximately 700 attendees.
“The Shire has moved to 100% renewable electricity; launched the Circular Hepburn - Business Toolkit; offered a weekly food and garden organics kerbside collection service; conducted wildlife corridor mapping to support Township Structure Planning and at last night’s Council meeting endorsed the next annual Solar Savers program. Much of this progress is due to new governance models that create the framework for these initiatives.”
These new models work to embed sustainability across Council operations, such as internal technical working groups, a project control group, and a steering committee. The new Sustainable Hepburn Community Advisory Committee has met twice since November last year and is also working to bring community expertise and fresh thinking to several of the strategy’s priority areas.
Nikki Marshall is a member of the Advisory Committee and says, “it shows what can be achieved when community and Council work together in both the design and the delivery of a sustainability strategy. Council’s advisory group draws on the skills, creativity and practice, wisdom of community members in the design and together we are exploring innovative ways to live within the Earth’s limits.”
The progress report indicates the priorities for the next six months. These include conducting an assessment of Council’s climate emergency readiness across the organisation and reviewing our ecologically sustainable design (ESD) principles in the Planning Scheme. We plan to continue improving the Shire’s transfer stations with several initiatives being investigated to avoid valuable resources going into landfill and in turn strengthening our circular economy.
The report is available on Council’s website www.hepburn.vic.gov.au. For regular updates on Council’s progress with the Sustainable Hepburn Strategy, register for the regular Sustainable Hepburn e-news at www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/residents/sustainable-hepburn