Hume Regional Growth Plan
The Hume Regional Growth Plan is one of eight regional growth plans being prepared across Victoria. It will provide a broad direction for regional land use and development as well as high level planning frameworks for key regional centres.
On this page:
Draft regional growth plan
A draft Hume Regional Growth Plan has been developed and is now available for comment until Friday 12 July 2013.
The draft plan identifies a number of drivers that will affect how the region develops and how land is used. The themes covered in the plan include:
- the regional economy
- environment and heritage
- living in the region, and
- regional infrastructure.
The draft plan builds on the directions of the Hume Strategy for Sustainable Communities (Hume Strategy) which was endorsed by all 12 councils in the Hume Region as the Regional Strategic Plan in 2010. The draft plan strives to help achieve the following vision for the Hume Region included in the Hume Strategy:
Draft vision for the region
The Hume Region will be resilient, diverse and thriving. It will capitalise on the strengths and competitive advantages of the four sub regions, to harness growth for the benefit of the region and to develop liveable and sustainable communities.
The plan sets out to help achieve a region with:
- efficient and sustainable settlements
- sustainable rural communities
- a healthy environment and a celebrated heritage
- healthy, vibrant, resilient communities
- a thriving and dynamic economy, and
- a mobile and connected region.
The plan is intended to complement and guide local land use planning by providing directions for managing future growth and change to capitalise on the region’s competitive advantages, opportunities and strengths by:
- supporting the development of a more diverse regional economy while managing and enhancing key regional economic assets
- protecting environmental and heritage assets and maximising the regional benefit from them, whilst managing exposure to natural hazards and planning for the potential impacts of climate change
- focussing growth and development to maximise the strengths of existing settlements, and
- supporting the improvement of people and freight movement and planning strategically for future infrastructure needs.
Draft regional growth plan
Download a copy of the draft plan:
NOTE: This document is a large file and may take time to download. The plan is also available to download in smaller sections below:
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 1 (PDF - 1.8MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 2 (PDF - 1.9MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 3 (PDF -1.8MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 4 (PDF - 2.1MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 5 (PDF - 1.8MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 6 (PDF - 1.4MB)
- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan Part 7 (PDF - 1.2MB)
Background paper
A draft background paper contains additional information that was relied upon to develop the draft plan.
Download a copy of the background paper:- Draft Hume Regional Growth Plan: Background Paper (PDF - 2.8 MB)
- If you require an accessible version of this document please contact us at Hume.RGP@dpcd.vic.gov.au
NOTE: This document is a large file and may take time to download. The paper is also available to download in smaller sections below:
How to provide feedback
We need your feedback to help consider:
- how and where people will live in the region
- how we manage changes in population and communities over the long term
- how we plan for the future of rural areas to encourage economic development, and
- how we grow while protecting and respecting the region’s environmental assets.
Feedback can be provided in a number of ways:
Download and complete a feedback form:
Send it to us by:
- Email: Hume.RGP@dpcd.vic.gov.au
- Fax: (03) 5722 7109
- Mail: Stephen Swart, Senior Project Manager Department of Planning and Community Development, 1st Floor, 62 Ovens Street, Wangaratta VIC 3677
All comments and submissions must be received by 5pm on Friday 12 July 2013.
Opportunities to learn more
Members of the project team will be available to discuss the draft plan as follows:
| Date and time | Location | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 25 June, 2pm - 7pm | Wodonga | The Cube, 118 Hovell Street, Wodonga |
| Thursday 27 June, 2pm - 7pm | Seymour | Seymour Sports and Aquatic Centre, Chittick Park, Pollard Street, Seymour |
| Wednesday 3 July, 2pm - 7pm | Shepparton | Community Meeting Room, Ground Floor, Greater Shepparton City Council, 90 Welsford Street, Shepparton |
| Thursday 4 July, 2pm - 7pm | Wangaratta | Foyer of the Rural City of Wangaratta offices, 62-68 Ovens Street, Wangaratta |
About the region
The Hume region is located in northeast Victoria along the two major interstate transport corridors – the Hume corridor and the Goulburn Valley corridor.
The region is bounded by the Victorian Alps in the south and east, the New South Wales (NSW) border in the north, the Loddon Mallee Region in the west and the Northern and Western Metropolitan, Eastern Metropolitan and Gippsland Regions to the south.
Shepparton and Wodonga are the two most populous settlements in the Region. Other large settlements include Wangaratta and Benalla.
Hume’s economy is varied in its industry and employment make-up and is influenced by access to quality irrigated and dry land for agriculture and food production and its strategic location in the Melbourne-Canberra-Sydney-Brisbane national freight corridor.
The region includes a large part of the Alpine National Park and eight other national parks, including Mount Buffalo, Kinglake, Barmah Forest and Lower Goulburn River national parks. Other significant natural assets in the region include a Wilderness Park, eight State Parks, the Beechworth Historic Park and the Murray River Reserves.
The Hume Regional Growth Plan covers the municipalities of Alpine, Benalla, Greater Shepparton, Indigo, Mansfield, Mitchell, Moira, Murrindindi, Strathbogie, Towong, Wangaratta and Wodonga.
Developing the plan
Hume Regional Strategic Plan
The Hume Strategy for Sustainable Communities is a 10 year strategic plan that was developed by the Hume Regional Management Forum to provide advice and make recommendations to inform decision making and investment in the Hume Region.
View the Hume Strategy for Sustainable Communities on the Regional Development Victoria website
The plan identifies goals focused around:
- natural resources protected and enhanced for current and future generations
- healthy, vibrant and resilient communities
- a thriving and dynamic economy
- an integrated network of efficient and high functioning transport systems, and
- an efficient and sustainable pattern of urban and rural land use and development.
It also establishes four key directions about regional settlement planning:
- directing future population growth to settlements with the greatest capacity to accommodate it
- maximising the use of existing infrastructure and services and facilitating strategic investment in future infrastructure and services
- retaining productive rural land for agriculture and other compatible rural uses, and
- ensuring efficient use of land use planning resources in the region.
The regional growth plan provides an opportunity to refine, test and implement these directions.
Regional planning issues for Hume
As part of the initial phases of preparing the regional growth plan a draft background and issues paper has been prepared in consultation with state and local government partners and other key agencies.
This paper references existing work and policy that applies to the region and was prepared to explore the important issues in the Hume Region that will drive the directions of the Hume Region Growth Plan.
Read a summary of the issues identified through this work:
Project timeline
The broad steps to develop the Hume Regional Growth Plan and the indicative timeline to complete these steps are shown below:
| Phase | 2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Project establishment |
Jun-Oct |
||
| 2. | Data review and Issues Paper prepared |
Jul-Nov |
||
| 3. | Prepare strategic framework | Dec- | May | |
| 4. |
Prepare Draft Regional Growth plan |
June- |
May |
|
| 5. | Draft Regional Growth Plan consultation | Jun-Jul |
||
| 6. | Prepare Final Regional Growth Plan | Aug-Sep |
||
| 7. | Endorsement | Oct |
Managing the project
The Hume Regional Growth Plan is being prepared in a partnership between local government and state agencies and authorities.
A project steering committee provides overall strategic direction for the development of the plan.
A technical working group provides expertise from state government (including the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Department of Health) and local government as well as key agencies such as water authorities and catchment management authorities.
Coordination of the project is being provided by the Department of Planning and Community Development’s Hume Region office.
Project Steering Committee members include:
State Government:
- Department of Planning and Community Development
- Department of Primary Industries
- Department of Sustainability and Environment
- Department of Transport
- VicRoads
Councils:
- Alpine Shire Council
- Benalla Rural City Council
- City of Wodonga Council
- Greater Shepparton City Council
- Indigo Shire Council
- Mansfield Shire Council
- Mitchell Shire Council
- Moira Shire Council
- Murrindindi Shire Council
- Strathbogie Shire Council
- Towong Shire Council
- Wangaratta Rural City Council
Catchment Management Authorities:
- Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (also representing North East Catchment Management Authority)
Contact us
If you would like any further information about the Hume Regional Growth Plan, please contact our project team on telephone: (03) 5722 7101 or by email at Hume.RGP@dpcd.vic.gov.au
Privacy
If you provide feedback or information via this website, the personal information is collected by the Department of Planning & Community Development and/or its contracted service provider for the purposes of recording public comment relating to the Regional Growth Plan project.
Collection of this information is required to allow members of the community to be involved in the planning process. We may use the information to consult with you in activities such as making draft documentation available for feedback and other community consultations etc. Your information may also be included in a report that may be made available to the public in various ways, including by publication to the general public on our website. However you can contribute to this project anonymously if you would prefer.
You can request access to your personal information by contacting DPCD's Wangaratta Office. If normal access cannot be given to you, contact DPCD's Freedom of Information unit by phone (03) 9208 3112 or by email foi@dpcd.vic.gov.au.
