June 12th, 2024Future Hepburn community submission deadline extended

The Hepburn Shire Council has extended the consultation period for its draft Township Structure Plans and Rural Hepburn strategy by two weeks, until 26th June, allowing more time for the community to submit feedback.

The construction of these plans, as part of Future Hepburn, has been a long-term project with the council keen to continue to hear from the community.

To date the council has also held face-to-face meetings in each of its townships, attracting many interested individuals. Online there have been thousands of visits to the Participate Hepburn site, and around 500 people have completed the survey.

Councillors and planning officers have attended community sessions and spoken to many interested parties since the release of the draft documents on 1 May.

Mayor, Cr Brian Hood: “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.”

Hepburn Shire Council Chief Executive Officer Bradley Thomas: “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.”