Background information

Hume’s rural areas make up half the municipality. They provide an expansive landscape between the urban areas of the Hume Corridor and Sunbury that is home to natural and heritage values and a range of rural activities.

Hume City Council has released a Draft Rural Strategy that offers a vision for Hume’s rural areas for Council and the community to work towards over the next 20 years.

What we heard from past consultation

Feedback from the community to date and further research has identified the following major challenges for Hume’s rural areas now and into the future:

  • Relatively poor quality soil, a lack of rainfall worsened by impacts of climate change
  • Ongoing land speculation
  • The viability of traditional agriculture
  • An aging and changing rural population

The draft Rural Strategy

To address these challenges and to realise a positive future for Hume’s rural areas requires a partnership approach between all levels of government and the community. The draft Rural Strategy encompasses three themes that reflect this holistic and partnership approach:

Certainty – the draft Strategy aims to provide certainty on the role, and on the future planning, for the rural areas, particularly future urban development and subdivision, to assist the rural community to make investments with greater confidence.

Support – the draft Strategy sets out how landowners will be supported to continue to pursue current activities, diversify into new activities, maximise opportunities associated with a growing urban population and to effectively manage land.

Engagement – the draft Strategy confirms priorities to inform the rural community of potential future changes and to grow community connectedness and capacity to realise future opportunities and to manage challenges.

Community Information Sessions

Council held two community information sessions for the draft Rural Strategy between 4 March and 10 March 2021 to give community members the opportunity to discuss the draft Rural Strategy with Council Officers.

Following these information sessions, consultation on the draft Rural Strategy was closed on 31 March 2021.

Finalising the Rural Strategy and Next Steps

With the Consultation period closed, Council are now reviewing submissions and will be undertaking further work to finalise the Rural Strategy.

All submitters will be notified of the date when the final Rural Strategy is to be put before Council for consideration.

If you wish to be added to the project mailing list and updated as we progress, please email us at contactus@hume.vic.gov.au