Lesley Hewitt
While Hepburn Shire now functions with an unsubdivided structure with Councillors representing the whole Shire rather than individual wards, there are several issues and projects currently being worked on that may have a particular resonance for residents and ratepayers in the Daylesford/ Hepburn Springs area, the area covered by The Wombat Post.
Council’s July meeting agenda includes an item to commence the process for the disposal of properties surplus to Council’s needs. For Daylesford these include 79A Raglan St and I Armstrong St. Councillors will decide whether to proceed with the disposal of properties determined to be surplus. This will be followed by a period of community engagement before a final decision is made. The process is estimated to take 12-18 months. The property at 79A Raglan St has been assessed as suitable for affordable housing and its potential disposal is in line with Council’s policy to support the development of affordable housing in the Shire. Affordable housing is an umbrella term describing housing that is suitable for the need of low-to moderate income households and is priced so these households can meet their other essential living costs. Council support for the development of affordable housing has been a consistent theme in community engagement in the Shire.
The link to the Council agenda is here Ordinary Meeting of Council – 29 July 2025
Community members will recall the terrible accident that occurred on Cup Day weekend 2023 outside the Royal Hotel. Since then Council has installed large protective barrier rocks at the end of Albert St and advocated for and implemented a speed reduction with the Department of Transport to improve pedestrian safety. Council has also prepared concept plans for possible options in Albert St to enhance safety issues. You can find the plans on the Participate Hepburn website: Albert Street Daylesford | Participate Hepburn Please take a look and provide your feedback. It’s important that Council receives local feedback on any concerns or issues. Could walking options be enhanced? Is it an area that could benefit from more public space? Think about how you use or don’t use that Albert St intersection and what might/might not need to be dome to ensure increased pedestrian and vehicle safety.
Council is also developing the Hepburn Springs Masterplan. Again details are on the Participate Hepburn website: Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve Masterplan | Participate Hepburn . There are drop in sessions on Saturday 26 July from 10:00–11:30 am at the Mineral Springs Reserve near Soda Spring and on Wednesday 30 July 2025 from 2:00–3:00 pm also at the Mineral Springs Reserve near Soda Spring. Masterplans are important as they allow Council to apply for funding from any state or government finding opportunities that arise.
Which brings me to the Daylesford Community Facilities Project – also known as the Daylesford Town Hall re-development. There has been some discussion in the community about the wisdom of proceeding with this given Council’s financial situation and some confusion about the extent of the maintenance works currently underway. The maintenance works are limited to replacing parts of the roof and replacing the electrical wiring. For the redevelopment project, concept plans have been developed with input from community members and a decision will be coming to Council later this year about whether to proceed to the next stage and, if so, how and in what form. Details of the project can be found on the Participate Hepburn website: Daylesford Community Facilities | Participate Hepburn . Again, this redevelopment will not occur without a Council decision to proceed and without obtaining external funding. But without a Masterplan, nothing will happen.
As always community members can contact me at lhewitt@hepburn.vic.gov.au or on 0408 793 941.
Cr Lesley Hewitt is a Daylesford resident, an elected councillor for Hepburn Shire and currently the Deputy Mayor.
Councillor Columns are a regular feature in The Wombat Post. We offer this space as an information channel from Council to the community. Councillor Columns are not subject to editorial review by our editorial committee but are published as we receive them from our elected Councillors.
