Draft Small Towns Plan released for community feedback
Published on 18 July 2025
West Wimmera Shire Council is seeking community feedback on the draft Small Towns Plan, a strategic project focused on supporting the development and liveability of the shire.
The draft plan presents locally tailored ideas to enhance public spaces, grow tourism, strengthen town centres and guide land use and development.
It builds on a review of the West Wimmera Planning Scheme, which found that key local policy settings had not been updated since the 1990s and required revision.
Council Chief Executive Officer David Bezuidenhout said the draft plan captured each town’s distinct character and suggested ideas to help them thrive.
“Each town has something different to offer,” he said.
“This plan recognises those differences and outlines opportunities to support each town’s growth and wellbeing.”
The draft Small Towns Plan includes individual profiles for Apsley, Edenhope, Goroke, Harrow and Kaniva, outlining locally specific ideas for improvement and investment.
In Apsley, priorities include enhancing the Wimmera Highway streetscape, promoting events such as the Apsley Cup and mosaic walk, and exploring tourism and short-stay accommodation opportunities.
In Edenhope, the focus is on improving connections between Lake Wallace and the retail strip, supporting new business activity, and promoting the town as part of the broader Wimmera Lakes region.
For Goroke, the plan highlights the potential to restore and repaint key buildings, upgrade streetscape elements, and grow tourism through links to the Little Desert, a silo art trail and a proposed Horsham–Goroke rail trail.
Harrow is identified as having potential for boutique tourism development, with proposed improvements along Blair Street and support for repurposing heritage buildings for accommodation or commercial use.
In Kaniva, the plan suggests capitalising on highway traffic by improving amenities and caravan parking, installing tourism signage, and encouraging the activation of underused buildings in the town centre.
The community is invited to read the draft plan online or view a hard copy at Council’s Customer Service Centres in Kaniva and Edenhope.
Feedback can be submitted via the online form and must be received by 5pm on Friday, 8 August 2025.
Community input will inform the final version of the Small Towns Plan, which will underpin future updates to the West Wimmera Planning Scheme.
To view the draft plan and provide feedback click here