Local Laws, otherwise known as "bylaws", are established by the council to help manage a range of community safety and public health issues for the municipality.

Local Laws often applies to noise, fire hazards, abandoned vehicles, parking permits, furniture on footpaths, graffiti, burning off, animals in public spaces and nuisance pets.

A Local Law cannot contradict or duplicate an existing state or federal law and it usually responds to a local issue or community need.

The council can issue and ensure compliance with permits for a wide range of activities.

For residents, these activities include parking permits, unsightly land, animal management, skip bin permits, tree planting, management of building sites, firewood collection and permits to burn.

For businesses these activities include street trading permits, place of public entertainment permits, mobile food truck permits, advertising signs and busking permits.

The process for making a local law is that the council must first give public notice of its intent to make a local law. The council should then consider any written submissions received prior to its final decision. Submitters must be given an opportunity to speak in favour of their submissions.

It should also be noted that a local law cannot be inconsistent with any Act or regulation of state or federal government, or the Wodonga Planning Scheme.

The council has made the decision to develop a new Community Local Law through extensive review and consultation with staff and the community. This will allow us to make significant improvements to make it a more readable streamlined document and ensure that it does not duplicate other legislation.

• Part B – Administration and enforcement
  Sets out the definitions, the penalties and powers of council and officers.
• Part C - Municipal property and infrastructure
  Manage and enahance community safety and behavior in municipal places (other than what is already contained in the Summary Offences Act)
  Control of dangerous activities in municipal places.
• Part D - Municipal infrastructure
  Protect council assets, council environmental lands and council reserves. Does not include state/national parks or crown land.
• Part E - Amenity, public heath and safety
  Manage things such as condition of land and premises, parking in residential zones, busking and consumption of liquor in municipal places.
• Part F - Keeping animals and birds
  Set the standard in which the community expect council to manage animals in residential areas that is not already covered under another act or regulation, such as the number of pets (not including livestock) that can be kept in residential zoned properties.
• Part G - Waste collection service
  Enhance waste management practices such as placement of bins in municipal places, the management of the contents of bins (i.e., recyclable materials, green waste), and the delivery of waste within the Resource Recovery Centre.

A table of changes is available here which summarises each issue identified for change or amendment, and is listed in numerical order.

A review of the penalty unit amounts also identified that council’s penalties have not significantly increased over 10-year life of the current Local Law.

While community feedback did not necessarily support an increase in the penalties, it has been identified that every penalty in all other Acts and legislation, has significantly increased during this period and the council should be in line with other relevant laws.

The Local Government Act 2020 has recognised this and penalties are now in-line with all other relevant laws.

Taking this into account the cost of enforcement has also significantly increased during this period and an increase in penalties is strongly recommended.

The schedule of penalties is listed in the draft local law.