Policies & strategies

Learn more about our Street and Roadside Trading Policy by downloading the document.

Provide a clear framework to guide future strategic activities by Council, community and others in managing our precious environment.

Framework to ensure consistency and control over procurement activities, to demonstrate accountability to rate payers and to provide guidance on ethical behaviour in local government procurement.

After extensive community consultation, the Yarra Ranges Housing Strategy, and Neighbourhood Character Study, were Adopted by Council at the Council Meeting of 11 June 2024. The Agenda and Minutes from the Meeting are linked below.

The Housing Strategy is Council’s long-term plan to manage future housing growth and change so that it best meets the ongoing needs of the community.  The Housing Strategy identifies the location for new residential development at varying scales. The Housing Strategy underpins Council’s housing policy in the Planning Scheme and provides for the next fifteen years of population growth.

The Neighbourhood Character Study (NCS) was developed and publicly exhibited concurrently with the Housing Strategy. The NCS expresses how new development can be managed across suburban areas of Yarra Ranges to protect valued neighbourhood assets and character.

The development of the Housing Strategy included two stages of community consultation:

• Stage 1: The Housing Strategy Discussion Paper – exhibited from 1 March 2022 to 5 April 2022
• Stage 2: The Draft Housing Strategy – exhibited from 25 October 2023 to 11 December 2023
  
  

Linked in the attachments below, these two reports explain the Stage 2 consultation in detail:

• Draft Housing Strategy Consultation and Engagement Report
• Draft Housing Strategy Engagement Feedback Report

The reports include feedback from the community and responses from officers regarding the issues raised.

The Local Government Act 2020 introduced strategic planning principles for Victorian councils which include an integrated approach to planning, monitoring and performance reporting.

Yarra Ranges Council is producing this Workforce Plan to examine the current state of our organisation and to detail any planned changes so that we can project what our organisation may look like in the next four years.

The Workforce Plan will be an evolving document and will be updated periodically to reflect the current and projected states of the Yarra Ranges Workforce.

The Nature Plan was endorsed at the Council meeting in December 2023.

 

The Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Authority

The Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Authority was established with the proclamation, in April 1977, of the Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Authority Act 1976 (the Act). The authority was responsible for the region comprising the former shires of Healesville, Lilydale, Sherbrooke and Upper Yarra. With the local government restructure in December 1994, the Regional Strategy Plan is now within the municipal area of the Yarra Ranges Shire Council.

The object of the Act was ‘to enable increased protection for the special features and character of the region’. The Act also required that the authority prepare Regional Strategy Plan to implement, among other things, state planning policies for the region.

The authority was wound up in 1995 under the Planning Authorities Repeal Act 1994. Since the disbandment of the authority, the Regional Strategy Plan has been the responsibility of the Minister for Planning.

The Act requires that any amendment to a planning scheme within the area of a Regional Strategy Plan must be consistent with the Regional Strategy Plan.

View The Upper Yarra and Dandenong Ranges Regional Strategy Plan 122

 

We value our customers and are known for delivering great customer experiences.

Yarra Ranges Council is transforming the way we think, work and deliver. Through our Flexible Future Transformation Strategy we are working towards creating a high performing organisation that collaborates and innovates to deliver exceptional customer focused services.

This Customer Experience Strategy plays a significant role in our ability to meet this aspiration, through guiding our efforts to improve our customers’ experiences with Council. 

What is Customer Experience?

Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all the interactions that a customer has with Council and the customer’s feelings, emotions, and perceptions of Council over the course of those interactions. 

Our goals

1. We understand our customers, their needs and what they value
2. Customer experience is central in the design of our services and processes
3. We make it easier for customers to connect with us, access services and complete their business
4. Our people value customers, are empathetic and responsive, and accountable for delivering positive customer experience
5. We measure customer experience and use data, feedback and insights to continually improve our services

Priority projects 

• Website Redevelopment 
  Redeveloping the website to ensure it is customer centric, user friendly and accessible, allowing our customers to easily find information and access Council services.

• SMS Updates
  Implementing SMS messages to update customers on a range of council services

• Customer Process Project
  Re-designing the organisation’s customer request processes to improve customer experience and satisfaction. The project will see the creation a standardised and more efficient approach to the management of the many customer request types and increase accountability, measurement and performance of customer request processes.

How will we keep this up to date?

We will regularly review the progress and outcomes of this strategy to assess how we are tracking. 

It is a living document and will be adjusted to ensure is remains contemporary and achieves our vision.

 

Yarra Ranges Council has developed the Integrated Water Management Plan to set the strategic direction for the sustainable management of water resources for Council operations over the next 5 years.

The Middle Years Strategic Action Plan sets priorities for Council, such as responding to service gaps and environmental issues that impact children aged 8-14 years.