Hume Regional
Growth Plan
Summary of Issues
from the
Draft Background and
Issues Report
December 2011
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Introduction
A summary of the key issues of phase 2 of the Hume Regional Growth Plan project are listed
below.
Issues were identified by working closely with key stakeholders, reviewing the Hume
Strategy for Sustainable Communities (and supporting documents) and analysing state
government policies and strategies.
Key issues are listed under the following thematic headings: supporting communities,
settlement, rural land use, transport, environment, environmental hazards, water and land
use, economy, utilities and waste management.
Summary of Key Issues
1. Supporting Communities
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Limited capacity of service providers to meet the needs of a growing / changing
population
A heavy reliance on private vehicles by those who live outside major centres to access
services (inequality of access to services)
The number of persons in the 55+ age cohort is predicted to increase significantly by
2026, increasing pressures on health and other social services
Significant numbers of young people moving from the area seeking education,
employment and entertainment opportunities elsewhere
Pockets of relatively high disadvantage, generally in settlements but also some rural
areas
Highest rates of homelessness in regional Victoria
Lack of diversity of housing type (currently dominated by detached dwellings)
Rising house prices, resulting in some populations becoming concentrated in low service
/ economic opportunity areas
Some of the lowest levels of educational attainment in regional Victoria
Twenty five percent of local government authorities have more than 30 percent nonresident ratepayers
Social impacts of climate change and structural adjustment (such as in agriculture and
manufacturing) on the community
Cost of providing and maintaining sport and recreational facilities
2. Settlement
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The need for a coordinated approach to land use planning and development in the
Region
Peri-urban growth pressures
Long distances travelled by communities in the southern part of the Region (expected to
grow significantly) to access higher order services and facilities and employment in
larger settlements within and outside of the Region
The need for a coordinated approach to the provision of services and facilities in “crossborder” settlements
Relatively high population growth rates in ‘high amenity’ areas
The need for collaboration between regional cities and centres to complement each
other
Long distance commuting to employment, shops and services and the need to minimise
carbon emissions
The role of the Alpine Resorts as part of the settlement network in the Region and
development pressures in these resorts and the valleys leading to them
Appropriateness of growth in some areas, given the potential impacts of climate change
(such as fire, flood risk) and cumulative impacts on other values (such as environmental
and agricultural)
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Inefficient urban form (structure) of some key settlements
The need for improved urban design and renewal in certain localities
Limited housing diversity and the impacts of climate change on dwelling types
The need to provide a range of housing options (to match demand) in appropriate
localities
Cost of growth (providing the necessary range of facilities for new communities)
A dispersed pattern of dwelling development in rural areas and the location of some of
these dwellings in areas of high environmental risk
The need to accommodate residential growth pressures while minimising impacts on
agriculture and landscape/environmental assets
Growth pressures in the southern parts of the Region as a result of the extension of
Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary
Conservation of cultural heritage assets
The need for settlement planning to respond to seasonal demands
3. Rural Land Use
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Impacts of changing global and national economic conditions on rural land use
Uncertainty about the direction and / or impact of government policy (such as the
Murray-Darling Basin Plan) on rural land use
Impacts of climate change (reduction in water, seasonal changes) and predicted
increase in floods, frosts and bushfires
Declining health of the landscape (salinity, erosion, loss of biodiversity)
Rising fuel costs and impacts on transport and supply chains
Capacity issues including an ageing farming population, declining interest by young
people in farming and a mismatch between skills and employment opportunities
The appropriate future use of significant areas of farmland
Impacts of change on industries and settlements reliant on the agricultural sector
Fragmentation of agricultural land where farming areas are ‘broken-up’ by the
introduction of non-farming uses (such as housing and boutique industries) and
inconsistent decision making
Conflicting land uses and activities (such as residential development) that can limit
agricultural activities
Impacts on visual amenity from rural landscape change
Impacts on food security as a result of an irreversible loss of productive farmland
Loss of biodiversity and impacts on waterways in rural areas, especially in ‘high
production’ areas
Impacts of plantations on adjacent agricultural and residential land uses
Reserves of quarry products can be 'sterilized' by inappropriate planning decisions
reducing the ability of such resources to be realized
4. Transport
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The difficulty of providing effective and affordable public transport in many parts of the
Region and the resulting high dependence on private cars (vulnerable to rising fuel
prices). The lack of connectivity between many townships and settlements exacerbates
this problem. An ageing population will mean a diminished capacity to drive and a
decline in mobility for many residents
Hume rail corridor passenger services should be returned and spread throughout the
day to allow for in-commuting as well as improved links to Melbourne
The need to review the number of rail services between Melbourne and Shepparton
considering services to comparable settlements elsewhere in the state
The need for rail gauge standardisation in the Goulburn Valley corridor
The role of public transport linkages between settlements, major natural attractions such
as ski resorts and national parks and between states and regions in facilitating tourism,
need to be considered
The need to co-locate services and public transport at specific localities within major
corridors to maximise the efficient use of these services
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The need to plan for an expanded role for the freight and logistics industry in the Hume
Region, while minimising impacts on communities and the environment to meet freight
transport needs, freight logistics centres in key localities in the Region will need further
support to:
- Provide infrastructure in the form of an intermodal terminal to expand and capitalise
on the local employment opportunities of the Hume corridor at the Logic Centre in
Wodonga
- Facilitate investment into the ‘GV Link’ centre to enable construction to commence
The need to confirm state government plans for the development of an interstate freight
terminal on the southern edge of the Region at Donnybrook / Beveridge
The need to improve east-west transport links in the Region
5. Environment
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Climate change is predicted to have negative impacts on species viability and
distribution
Significant loss of native vegetation on private land, particularly in the Goulburn Broken
CMA area
The loss of environmental assets and corridors as a consequence of settlement
expansion
Remaining biodiversity on private land is generally in poor to very poor condition
An increased threat of biosecurity (from pest plants and animals) as a result of future
growth in the Region.
Approximately 30 percent of Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) classified as
endangered or vulnerable
Approximately 60 percent of the rivers in the Region are in moderate to poor condition
Significant impacts on natural waterways and wetlands from channelisation and water
storage
Impacts of stormwater run-off and septic tank leakage from urban and rural areas on
waterways
Impacts on waterway and the ecological health of catchments including run-off from
forestry (sediments and chemicals), irrigation tailwater as well as the impacts of water
regulation of flow and temperature.
Some species only occurring in remnant or relict landscapes are unlikely to survive in the
long-term because of degraded ecological processes
Vegetation in the production landscapes differs to that protected in reserves in other
landscapes
Revegetation and protection are occurring more than in the past, but more needs to
occur in order to achieve resilient landscapes
A lack of regional or sub regional open space plans or strategies
6. Environmental Hazards
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Climate change impacts including:
- Increased severity of natural disasters such as fire, flood, drought and storms
- Reduced water for communities, industry and the environment
- Constraints on mobility due to potential rising fuel prices
- Impacts on freight and logistics and agricultural industries as input costs rise
- Increased health problems due to hotter temperatures
- Changing agricultural margins and the resultant impact on economies
- Decreasing snow cover, depth and reliability, with consequences for the Alpine
Resorts and local tourist industries
- Increased investment in urban environments to adapt
- Increased economic pressure on the community to meet rising energy costs
resulting from a hotter and more variable climate
Fire and flood hazards:
- More extreme and frequent flood and fire events predicted to occur as a result of
climate change
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Smoke from controlled burns and wildfires can impact on the region’s communities,
agricultural industries, cultural heritage sites and tourism
Salinity impacts:
- Including corrosion of infrastructure, buildings and roads
- A reduction in productive agricultural land
- Impacts on biodiversity
- Impacts on water quality in waterways and wetlands
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7. Water and Land Use
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Reduced water availability and reliability (as a result of climate change) resulting in:
- less water available for agriculture (from rainfall and irrigation)
- impacts on the environment
- impacts on amenity and tourism
- impact on growth in some townships
- impacts on low-income households as water prices rise
Viability of some irrigated farms that have become isolated (as a result of the buyback of
irrigation water) and not being able to share costs (of water services) with neighbours
Some land purchasers are unaware of the consequences of purchasing properties that
have been ‘dewatered’
Impacts of bushfires on water quality (as a result of ash and increased sediment)
High dependency by some sectors on water
Uncertainty about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan
Stormwater and rainwater recycling not ‘common practice’
A number of small communities do not have reticulated drinking water, some of which
have non-drinking community supply schemes
8. Economy
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Providing jobs for the additional projected 100,000 residents by 2031
Lack of diversity in the economy (reliance on agriculture and manufacturing)
Lack of appropriately zoned land for industrial use in some locations
Social and economic costs of commuting
Ability to attract an appropriate workforce
Issues identified in other sections relevant to the economy include:
- water security
- ageing infrastructure
- climate change
- information and communication technology (ICT) demand and supply
- constraints to establishing renewable energy supplies
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9. Utilities
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Communities are high users of energy due to wide temperature variations
Limited areas in the region have access to reticulated natural gas
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Increased pressures on utilities from population growth and from industrial / commercial
premises
Potential climate change risks to energy supplies and to the security of other utilities
from temperature extremes, flood and fire
Dependency on the use of firewood for heating (with issues associated with cost,
emissions and impacts on the environment)
Constraints on some agri-industries due to a high energy demand (such as dairies)
High dependency on petroleum for personal transport and from major industries
including transport, logistics and agriculture
Impacts of ‘Peak oil’ and carbon pricing
Ageing infrastructure
Providing for peak seasonal populations
Mobile phone, broadband and wireless access is problematic with increasing proximity
from major centres
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10. Waste Management
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There are no landfills in the northern parts of the Region and councils are ‘exporting’
their waste to NSW
The cost to councils of collecting waste in sparsely populated areas
Residents dumping waste (particularly green and hard waste) due to limited (or no)
collection service
Small shires with limited resources having to deal with peak visitor waste during the
snow season, long weekends and school holidays
Some smaller shires do not produce a volume of waste for recycling that would make a
dedicated trip to Melbourne viable
A large number of small communities are unsewered and provision of conventional
sewerage services is generally cost prohibitive
Unplanned development of land that is unsewered, but has already been zoned for
residential development may cause adverse environmental impacts to the catchment
and to water quality
Land in unsewered locations that has been subdivided and zoned for residential
development may in future drive inefficient servicing decisions
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