The township structure plans serve to protect and enhance the existing township character and guide appropriate growth and development by providing a planning framework for private land use.

The voices of the community have been integral to the development of the structure plans, providing local knowledge and defining the towns' future vision. During the initial and deeper community engagement we have sought to understand the community's thoughts, preferences and opinions about their vision for their township. This feedback has directly influenced the development of the township structure plans' vision and objectives and influenced the included strategies and actions.

Together with the community engagement findings, the township structure plans are influenced by a range of state and local policies and background studies, additional Shire strategies and planning documents, and technical studies. Bringing together this knowledge the structure plans will protect what we value, improve township livability, and empower our communities to thrive.

To give greater certainty to the implementation of the community developed vision for each township, it is necessary that a number of key actions are included in the Hepburn Planning Scheme. The draft Structure Plans includes those proposed actions.

• Section 10.1 Statutory Planning, and the accompanying maps, outline the land proposed to be rezoned and new overlays to be applied. An accompanying list of properties that are affected by the proposed zoning changes has been provided below. If your property is located in the streets listed, please review the relevant draft Structure Plan to see what the changes may mean for you.
• The draft structure plans for Clunes, Creswick, Daylesford and Hepburn Springs and Trentham nominate 500m investigation areas where current transfer stations and past landfill sites are located. A letter has been sent to residents within those areas. A copy of this letter is included below and with the Future Hepburn Technical Reports and Supporting Documents page.

If you are unclear or concerned about any of the information relating to your property, we encourage you to contact us at strategicplanning@hepburn.vic.gov.au.

Initial Community Engagement

During the initial engagement phase, we sought to capture the community's sentiments on six key themes - housing, business and economy, environment and heritage, urban design, movement and access, and community and cultural infrastructure.

From 17 May to 2 July 2023 township surveys were conducted and six Community Conversations were held offering the community the opportunity to find out more and share their views. Shire-wide, 499 people completed the online survey and 105 people attended Community Conversations. Thank you to the many community members who shared their thoughts with us. We appreciate your feedback and input. An engagement report detailing the information collected is included in the township tabs below.

Deeper Community Engagement

During October and November of 2023, we brought together five groups of community members in each of the key townships to begin working on drafting the structure plans. Each Community Panel worked together to develop a shared vision and the key objectives across the six key themes. An engagement report detailing the process and raw data from each of the township panel sessions is included in the township tabs below. We have aimed to bring those visions and objectives to life during the drafting process.

The strategies and actions within the structure plans were developed from the initial community engagement phase, current Council strategies and plans, and the recommendations from various technical studies that were undertaken as part of the Future Hepburn project.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on the draft structure plans from 1 May and 26 June 2024.

We encourage you to register for Council's e-newsletter Hepburn Life to receive updates on these activities.