At a special meeting earlier this week, Council approved the release of draft Township Structure Plans for Clunes, Creswick, Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, Glenlyon and Trentham) and an Agricultural Land & Rural Settlement Strategy.

The draft plans are now open for feedback throughout a comprehensive six-week community and stakeholder engagement period.

Mayor, Cr Brian Hood, said that the Future Hepburn project is the most important project Council will deliver for many years and has the potential to touch every landowner and resident in the Shire, now and into the future.

“Future Hepburn is a major, once-in-a-generation project.  We’ve already heard from the community that they want Council to protect and enhance the character of our townships and rural settlements.  The strategic planning controls proposed in these key documents will help us appropriately manage future growth and development,” he said.

The draft plans have been developed after extensive community consultation and specialist technical advice from consultants and Council officers with expertise in planning, ecology, infrastructure, transport, recreation and economic development.

Community information sessions will be held throughout the Shire in the coming weeks to enable the community to speak to planners or seek advice regarding potential impacts to properties. Council will also be writing to all property owners in the Shire.

Information sessions will be held at the following times:

  • Daylesford: Saturday 1 June, from 2pm to 5pm at the Daylesford Town Hall, 76 Vincent Street, Daylesford. Introduction Presentation will commence at 4pm.
  • Hepburn Springs: Saturday 25 May, from 9am to 12pm at the Bendigo Community Bank building, 113 Main Street, Hepburn Springs. Introduction Presentation will commence at 11am.
  • Glenlyon: Saturday 25 May 2024, from 2pm to 5pm at the Glenlyon Shire Hall, Barkly Street, Glenlyon. Introduction Presentation will commence at 4pm.
  • Trentham: Friday 24 May, from 5pm to 8pm at the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre, 56 High Street, Trentham. (Introduction Presentation will commence at 7pm.)
  • Creswick: Friday 17 May, from 5pm to 8pm at the RSL, 60 Albert Street, Creswick. Introduction Presentation will commence at 7pm.
  • Clunes: Saturday 1 June, from 9am to 12pm at the Clunes Town Hall, 98 Bailey Street, Clunes. Introduction Presentation will commence at 11am.

The Community Panels which provided input to the draft plans will be reconvened to review the drafts and provide feedback.

“Our community panels played an important role in providing direction and focus on the vision and objectives which, in turn, guided the development of the strategies and actions.  We look forward to working with these passionate community members again during this important phase of the project,” said Cr Hood.

The draft Township Structure Plans and Rural Hepburn strategy, community information session details and feedback forms are available on the Participate Hepburn site. Each Plan can be viewed separately and each is accompanied by a Reading Guide which highlights the key provisions of the draft plan.

Drafts documents and feedback forms will also be available at Shire Hubs and Libraries.

For more information visit https://participate.hepburn.vic.gov.au/future-hepburn