title: Huntly Structure Plan council: greater-bendigo state: vic category: growth-area classification: MAJOR status: in-progress last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf
Huntly Structure Plan
The Huntly Structure Plan is an active council-led strategic planning project for one of Greater Bendigo’s northern growth settlements. The available corpus shows the project had moved from intention into procurement by early 2026: CoFutures Pty Ltd had been engaged for the Huntly Structure Plan Project under contract CT000770, with a contract price of 148,580 ex GST against a 200,000 ex GST budget. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216)
The planning significance is that Huntly is being planned while linked servicing, drainage, transport, and activity-centre questions remain only partly visible in the available documents. Council’s own progress report places Huntly alongside Elmore and Goornong as a structure-plan program action, but the corpus does not include the draft structure plan, background technical reports, community engagement material, land-use budget, infrastructure plan, or implementation amendment. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
Background
Council Plan action CP 3.2.3 requires the City to progress structure plans for Elmore, Goornong, and Huntly, with the responsible officer identified as the Manager Strategic Planning and a due date of 30 June 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) As reported in the February 2026 agenda, the Elmore Structure Plan had completed consultation and was at the stage where submissions and potential changes were being considered, while the Huntly Structure Plan had a consultant engaged and was starting in early 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
The Huntly project sits within a broader northern-settlement planning sequence rather than appearing as a stand-alone exercise. Goornong’s structure planning pathway was being held up by technical inputs, because the Goornong Flood Study and Wastewater Servicing Report were underway and the draft Goornong Flood Study could proceed once those were completed. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) That sequencing matters for Huntly because it shows the City’s structure-planning program is being shaped by infrastructure and hazard evidence, not only by land-use preference. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
Analysis
Project Status and Governance
The practical status of the Huntly Structure Plan is early project commencement. The agenda records that CoFutures Pty Ltd had been engaged and that the project was starting in early 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) The separate contracts report gives the procurement detail: contract CT000770, titled Huntly Structure Plan Project, was signed on 4 January 2026 by Anthony Petherbridge, Manager Strategic Planning, for $148,580 ex GST. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216)
The contract term is 12 months with an option of one further two-year extension. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216) In plain planning terms, this means the work had enough budget and formal procurement authority to move into preparation, but the available documents do not prove that a draft plan, land-use framework, or planning scheme amendment had been prepared by the February 2026 agenda date. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216)
The budget-versus-contract position is also important. The contract price of 148,580 ex GST uses approximately 74.3% of the stated 200,000 ex GST project budget, leaving approximately $51,420 ex GST within the reported budget line if no other project costs are counted. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216) The corpus does not show whether that remaining budget is intended for engagement, technical subconsultants, mapping, legal drafting, or contingency. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216)
Settlement Role and Activity-Centre Relationship
The strongest available clue about Huntly’s settlement role comes from an Epsom commercial development assessment rather than from the Huntly Structure Plan itself. In that assessment, Strategic Planning noted that Epsom is likely in the short to medium term to remain a shopping destination for residents from Huntly and further north, but that this may change as the commercial centre in Huntly grows. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.71)
This creates a clear cause-and-effect planning issue. If Huntly’s commercial centre grows, some day-to-day retail and service demand that currently travels to Epsom may be retained within Huntly. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.71) The structure plan therefore needs to clarify whether Huntly is being planned mainly as a residential growth settlement relying on Epsom for higher-order services, or as a settlement with a strengthened local centre that reduces dependence on Epsom for some trips. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.71)
The same Epsom assessment states that the City does not have a Structure Plan for Epsom and that this is subject to future work. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.70) That is a material analytical gap because Epsom and Huntly are functionally linked along the northern corridor, but the available corpus shows Huntly structure planning commencing before an Epsom structure plan is available. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.70-71, 207)
Drainage and Flood-Risk Dependency
The February 2026 agenda includes an Annual Environment Report table that identifies an additional Huntly drainage study as in progress, with expected completion of the report by the end of 2025. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145) Because the agenda was dated 16 February 2026 but the table still records an expected end-2025 completion, the corpus does not establish whether the drainage study had been completed, delayed, or superseded. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145)
That uncertainty matters because drainage is one of the mechanisms that can change the land-use outcome of a structure plan. A drainage study can identify land required for overland flow paths, detention, waterway setbacks, retarding basins, or flood mitigation works, and those areas can reduce developable land or change staging requirements. The available document confirms only that an additional Huntly drainage study existed and was in progress; it does not provide catchment boundaries, flood levels, drainage assets, basin locations, land-take estimates, or development staging triggers. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145)
The same agenda shows flood and drainage planning as an active municipal issue through several flood mitigation projects, including the Racecourse Creek levee and Bendigo Creek levee, with detailed design expected by June 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145) Those projects are not stated to be Huntly Structure Plan works, so they should not be treated as Huntly infrastructure. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145) Their relevance is narrower: they show that flood mitigation infrastructure and planning are being monitored in the same Council reporting framework as the Huntly drainage study. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145)
Transport and Movement Context
The available corpus does not include a Huntly transport assessment, road hierarchy plan, intersection analysis, public transport plan, walking and cycling plan, or staging model. It does, however, show that Council Plan action CP 2.2.3 included advocacy to the Victorian Government for a full review of Bendigo’s bus network and services, and that this review was funded in the State Government’s 2025/26 budget with further council and community input expected during a review process commencing in 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
For the Huntly Structure Plan, the mechanism is straightforward: if Huntly is to grow as a northern settlement, the structure plan will need to align local land use, activity-centre planning, and residential staging with whatever service changes emerge from the Bendigo bus network review. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) The available source does not say whether Huntly is specifically included in the bus review scope, so that connection remains a planning dependency rather than a confirmed project input. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
Community Resilience and Local Planning Interface
Council Plan action CP 2.2.2 records that community emergency and resilience planning was underway in Goornong, Heathcote, Epsom/Huntly, Junortoun, Maiden Gully, and Marong, supported by external grant funding. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.203) The Annual Environment Report also records community recovery, emergency planning, and resilience activity in Marong, Heathcote, Goornong, Junortoun, and Epsom/Huntly. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.150)
This is relevant because structure planning is not only a zoning exercise. If Epsom/Huntly is already a focus for emergency and resilience planning, the Huntly Structure Plan should be tested against local hazards, evacuation movement, heat exposure, drainage constraints, and community infrastructure needs. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.150, 203) The available corpus does not provide the emergency or resilience plan outputs, so it is not possible to identify specific hazard controls or infrastructure requirements from the current source set. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.150, 203)
What Cannot Yet Be Quantified
A full structure-plan analysis would normally quantify gross area, net developable area, dwelling yield, density assumptions, commercial floorspace, community infrastructure, open-space land take, drainage land take, transport upgrades, and delivery sequencing. The only quantified project data available in the current corpus is the consultancy contract price of 148,580 ex GST, the project budget of 200,000 ex GST, the 12-month contract term with a possible two-year extension, and Council Plan progress reporting at 50% for the combined Elmore-Goornong-Huntly structure-plan action. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216)
The page therefore cannot responsibly state a Huntly yield, staging threshold, infrastructure cost, drainage land-take figure, or amendment pathway. The source base is a governance and signal record, not the technical evidence package for the structure plan. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.145, 207, 216)
Current Status
As at the 16 February 2026 council agenda, the Huntly Structure Plan had a consultant engaged and was starting in early 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) The relevant Council Plan action was marked in progress at 50%, with a due date of 30 June 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207) The consultancy contract had been signed on 4 January 2026 for a 12-month term with an option for one two-year extension. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216)
Dependencies
- Blocks: A settled Huntly Structure Plan is likely to be needed before detailed planning scheme implementation, coordinated infrastructure staging, and clear local activity-centre expectations can be confirmed for Huntly, but the available corpus does not identify a specific amendment or statutory implementation step. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.207, 216)
- Blocked by: The available corpus suggests unresolved technical dependencies around drainage, because an additional Huntly drainage study was recorded as in progress with expected report completion by the end of 2025, but no completed report is included. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145)
- Informed by: The only confirmed current inputs are the council structure-plan program action, the Huntly Structure Plan consultancy engagement, and the broader Epsom/Huntly settlement and resilience references in the agenda. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.71, 150, 203, 207, 216)
- Implements: The project implements Council Plan action CP 3.2.3 to progress the structure plans for Elmore, Goornong, and Huntly. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
- Conflicts with: No direct policy conflict is documented in the available source, but the lack of an Epsom Structure Plan creates an unresolved corridor-planning issue because Epsom is expected to continue serving Huntly residents in the short to medium term while Huntly’s own commercial centre grows. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.70-71)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The available corpus does not identify a cross-boundary statutory process for the Huntly Structure Plan. It does identify transport and resilience dependencies that involve actors beyond a single local land-use plan: the Victorian Government funded a Bendigo bus network review in the 2025/26 State Budget, and Council expected further council and community input during the review process commencing in 2026. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.207)
The source also links Huntly to Epsom through shopping patterns, because Epsom is expected to remain a short-to-medium-term shopping destination for residents from Huntly and further north until Huntly’s commercial centre grows. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.71) This is a functional corridor relationship rather than a formal cross-jurisdictional relationship. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.71)
Gaps in This Analysis
This analysis is constrained by a thin corpus. The manifest provides one council agenda text file, and that file contains status, procurement, and related contextual references rather than the Huntly Structure Plan evidence base. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.145, 207, 216)
Critical missing documents include the Huntly Structure Plan brief, draft structure plan, final structure plan if prepared, engagement plan, submissions or engagement report, drainage study, transport assessment, servicing assessment, land-use budget, open-space and community infrastructure analysis, commercial centre analysis, and any proposed planning scheme amendment documentation. The absence of these documents prevents quantification of dwelling yield, developable area, infrastructure cost, sequencing triggers, drainage land take, and statutory implementation pathway. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, pp.145, 207, 216)
The most important corpus gap is the additional Huntly drainage study, because the agenda records that it was in progress and expected by the end of 2025, but the report itself is not included. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.145) A second major corpus gap is the Huntly Structure Plan project material from CoFutures Pty Ltd, because the contract had been awarded but the plan outputs are not in the supplied source set. (Source: city-greater-bendigo-council-meeting-agenda-february-16-2026.pdf, p.216)