Reviewing our Proposed 2045 Community Vision
Councillors endorsed our Community Vision 2045 at the July Council Meeting.
The Vision was shaped by feedback from over 2,000 community members through surveys, workshops, pop-up events, and targeted engagement activities held between November 2024 and May 2025.
The Community Vision 2045 will inform Council’s planning documents, including the Council Plan 2025–2029, the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan, and the 10-Year Financial Plan.
The Community Vision 2045 document is brought to life through artwork by King Valley artist Anita Laurence, a participant in the Council Plan workshops. Her linocut print, Under a Blue Sky (2017), is part of the Wangaratta Art Gallery Collection and features prominently in the Vision’s promotional materials.
Our Community Vision 2045
The Rural City of Wangaratta is a place for everyone.
We are a welcoming, connected, and caring community.
We value our urban and rural communities, ensuring shared opportunity and quality of life.
Our natural environment supports our wellbeing and forms a strong part of our cultural identity.
Our strength is our resilience and active participation in shaping a future for everyone to thrive.
A Community Vision captures the community’s aspirations for the next 20 years and helps guide all Council decision-making and planning. Under the Local Government Act 2020, all councils across Victoria are required to develop and maintain a Community Vision.
The proposed vision incorporates the feedback received from over 2,000 community members as part of the Community Vision and Council Plan’s engagement process. People shared their feedback through surveys, workshops, targeted engagement, and pop-up events between December and March.
Feedback we received on the 2033 Community Vision included:
- Maintain the key values of urban-rural balance, natural beauty, inclusive and community identity
- Refine the language and make it more accessible
- When considering the community's future aspirations, a range of priorities and opportunities were expressed, the most common being associated with supporting health and wellbeing, maintaining the ‘Wangaratta lifestyle’, and carefully (and sustainably) balancing growth with infrastructure.
Download the Community Engagement Summary Report to see what community members shared, including their top 10 priorities for the future.
Thank you to everyone who has helped Council create the 2045 Community Vision.
For more information about this project or to give feedback, email connect@wangaratta.vic.gov.au
