Help shape Kyneton’s town centre

The Kyneton Town Centre Urban Design Framework (UDF) will provide urban design direction for Kyneton’s streetscapes, public open spaces and buildings, focussed on the three main commercial streets: Mollison Street, High Street and Piper Street.

 A UDF helps set a community vision for areas to inform what they should look like and the function they serve. These plans include the ability to bring together the social, visual and economic aspects that make areas unique.  UDFs are used to inform capital works and streetscape improvements, and planning controls for new developments.

The Kyneton Town Centre UDF will draw upon the valued elements of township character to enhance and celebrate while identifying opportunities to improve the safety, function and appearance of streetscapes and buildings.

The UDF will include:

• A vision for the town centre that highlights the valued elements of township character to be enhanced and celebrated
• Concepts to improve the amenity and appearance of streetscapes with a focus on pedestrian safety and comfort, tree planting and landscaping.
• Access and movement plans for how people will walk, ride and drive around the town centre.
• Guidelines for contemporary buildings and streetscapes so that new proposals reflect the cultural, heritage and aesthetic values of Kyneton.
• Design direction to Council and applicants in preparing and assessing development applications.

We will be consulting throughout the project to ensure that the UDF captures the community’s vision for the town centre.

An Urban Design Framework (UDF) was prepared for Kyneton in 2008. This UDF was not adopted by Council, but formed part of the background to the 2013 Kyneton Structure Plan.

It has been 12 years since the previous UDF was prepared. This project will review the actions from the 2008 UDF to see what has been done, what is still relevant, and what else needs to be included in the future.

Formal adoption of the plan by Council will be sought so that recognition is given to priority projects, and to support any future planning scheme amendments.

We have gathered feedback from consultations that have been undertaken in Kyneton in recent years. In particular, a number of submissions received during consultation on the Kyneton Movement Network Study (2019) expressed a wish for Council to focus on issues existing within the town centre before addressing broader, long-term infrastructure requirements for the town.

Feedback relevant to the town centre has included the need for:

• Improved wayfinding and promotional signage
• Direct and connected footpaths with good surfaces, crossing opportunities and safer pedestrian facilities
• Safe bicycle access in Kyneton’s main streets and to Kyneton railway station
• Improved car parking in the town centre, including accessible parking spaces
• Pedestrian crossing points that consider how to get people of different ages and abilities across the road safely
• Retention, maintenance and/or reinstatement of bluestone paving and infrastructure
• Great recognition of aboriginal cultural heritage
• Consideration of landscaping and trees in streets
• Clarity around the trade off between pedestrian and footpath spaces, bike access, kerbside parking and vehicle access

The UDF will not consider broader movement and access throughout Kyneton, beyond the town centre. The UDF will be used to inform a re-draft of the Kyneton Movement Network Study, which will commence following the completion of this project.

Former Kyneton Primary School Site

The community has made significant investment into the vision and future use for the old Kyneton Primary School site.

The Victorian Government announced funding for the future of the site in November 2020. Resolving what happens on the site itself is subject to the EOI process that is being run by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).

The site has been included in the study area boundary as there is an opportunity for the UDF to identify streetscape quality and access improvements to complement the work being undertaken by DELWP.

The revised UDF will focus on the physical environment: landscaping, footpaths, building design, street furniture etc.

The UDF is not considering:

• Broader movement and access throughout Kyneton, beyond the town centre. The UDF can address some of the issues previously identified by the Kyneton community, with focus on the commercial town centre. The UDF will be used to inform a re-draft of the Kyneton Movement Network Study, which will commence following the preparation of this project.
• Land use zones or the types of businesses that operate in the town centre. This is influenced in town planning via zoning (through Structure Plans) and the planning applications process.
• Community infrastructure such as education and child care, or Council support services such youth or aged facilities.
• Residential streets. The UDF is focussing on the main streets in the commercial centre, rather than residential streets, except where they intersect with the main shopping streets.
• The old Kyneton Primary School Site, this is currently being managed through an Expression of Interest (EOI) process by Department of Land, Water, Environment and Planning (DELWP). Funding for its development by the State Government was announced in November 2020. The study area boundary has included the site to consider identification of streetscape improvements, however what occurs on the site internally, including management and use options, will be subject to the DELWP’s EOI process.

The connection between the UDF, the Kyneton South Framework Plan and the Kyneton Movement Network Study:

• Council commenced the Kyneton South Framework Plan (KSFP) in 2016. The KSFP was undertaken to ensure that potential growth in Kyneton South is coordinated, planned and integrated with the existing township. The KSFP would enable Council and other service agencies to consider and anticipate likely infrastructure and service upgrades that may be required to service the growth in Kyneton South.
• On commencing the KSFP it was identified that the Kyneton Movement Network Infrastructure Study 2010 required updating. The update of this study was renamed the Kyneton Movement Network Study (KMNS) and coupled with the KSFP to guide the planning of any future infrastructure requirements and ensure growth areas are provided with an integrated and functional movement network.
• Officers exhibited the Kyneton Movement Network Study (KMNS) to the community in May 2019.  Feedback through the consultation process identified that the community felt the KMNS focussed too much on the growth area and required more focus on movement challenges in the existing township.

The UDF can address some of the current movement network needs identified by the Kyneton community, with focus on the central Kyneton issues that currently exist.  Movement network investigations undertaken as part of the UDF will update information on the existing short and medium term needs of the Kyneton township. This information will also inform the KMNS and KSFP on their recommencement.

The project team is currently reviewing all the feedback received during Phase 1 consultation. This will support Council’s analysis of the issues and opportunities that currently exist in the town centre.

In the coming months, officers will develop the draft UDF. We will then seek Council endorsement of the draft, and present it to the community for feedback in the second half of 2021.