The Wodonga Neighbourhood Character Strategy will provide guidance on how the established residential areas of Wodonga will grow into the future. It will ensure new development responds to valued character and is well located to shape the future of Wodonga’s neighbourhoods.

This project covers all the established residential areas of Wodonga. This is land already identified for housing development. It is also land included in the General Residential, Low Density Residential and Mixed Use Zones. It does not include proposed developments beyond the established areas such as greenfield sites, nor does it include Urban Growth Zone areas.

The Neighbourhood Character Strategy is part of the council’s commitment to ensuring quality neighbourhood planning and design that facilitates residential growth (Council Plan 2021-25).

The Neighbourhood Character Strategy will provide guidance on how areas of Wodonga will look and feel into the future. It breaks Wodonga into 10 Neighbourhood Character precincts,Neighbourhood Character precincts, with a series of objectives for each precinct.

These objectives will guide development to ensure the character is maintained and/or enhanced, providing clearer direction for developers on community expectations.

Wodonga is already growing. This project will ensure that the growth in established areas is well-managed and meets community expectations. It also provides an opportunity to address challenges facing the community. These challenges include a lack of suitable housing and environmental risks.

This project provides an opportunity to manage these issues in a simpler and well-planned way.

The objectives to guide neighbourhood character build upon previous projects that have been undertaken by the council. The neighbourhood character objectives are still in draft form and will be finalised after reviewing community comments.

Each residential area in Wodonga has been assigned a neighbourhood character category within the established residential zones. Each category has specific objectives and expected housing types, which will influence the design of buildings and developments. If you currently live in one of these areas, there will be no direct impact on your existing home.

Neighbourhood character is a combination of distinct visual and physical features of a residential area and how they interact with each other. Some of these features include:

• Subdivision pattern – includes elements such as topography, lot sizes, street width and street types such as boulevards, streets or court bowls.
• Buildings and surroundings – Siting of buildings play a role including site coverage, depth and consistency of front and side setbacks, separation between dwellings, extent of rear gardens and whether carports and garages are prominent.
• Built form – includes architecture and roof style, age of buildings, dwelling typology, building materials and building height.
• Landscaping – includes elements such as landscaping of front gardens, mature or bush style vegetation (native or exotic), retaining walls and extent of hard paved areas such as private driveways.
• Front and side fences - the location, height, style, visual permeability and materials.
• Public realm – nature strip, sense of openness and views, street trees, footpath, vehicle crossings, presence of power poles and other utilities.

These features collectively shape the distinctive character of a neighbourhood and help define its identity.

No, the project is neither intended, nor able, to prevent new development from occurring. Moreover, the neighbourhood character does not aim to replicate existing buildings or stop residential change.

The protection of heritage and cultural significance involves protection based on specific heritage criteria. Protection of heritage places is addressed in a Heritage Study or formal controls such as a Heritage Overlay rather than in a neighbourhood character strategy.

A neighbourhood character strategy, on the other hand, focuses on how buildings interact with their surroundings in public and private spaces considering their age and architectural style where relevant.

General amenity considerations such as overlooking, access to sunlight, private open space and noise apply to all residential developments. Therefore, amenity is not a character consideration and is also treated separately.

The character areas were developed as part of previous strategic work conducted by the council. This work has been reviewed as part of this project. The character areas can be viewed on this map.