When you think about the character of your township in the Alpine Shire, what comes to mind? Does it look a particular way? Does it make you feel something that you don't feel anywhere else?


The Neighbourhood Character Study (NCS) is a guiding document that will help to define the character of Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga South, Myrtleford, and Porepunkah.

The NCS will guide strategic planning works for these four townships to support the protection and enhancement of residential development now and into the future.

We have engaged Mesh Planning to develop the NCS, which is made up of a Neighbourhood Character Assessment, Design Guidelines, and Implementation Plan.


Submissions close on Sunday, 1 September 2024.


Neighbourhood character is a collection of materiality, landscape, distance between buildings and the integration of public and private realm. It is the fabric of an area - what provides an area with its sense of place and community meaning.

We have identified nine different typologies with unique characteristics for different areas of the four townships: Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga South, Myrtleford and Porepunkah.


The NCS provides guidance to community, planning professionals, building and statutory planning officers by providing a consistent description of neighbourhood character for Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga South, Myrtleford and Porepunkah.

The NCS provides guidance on preferred future character including housing options and density as the town continues to grow and experience infill development. It will ensure some of the key characteristics that make our townships unique are considered as our towns grow.

The purpose of the NCS is to:

  1. Identify the existing neighbourhood character of the residential areas of Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga South, Myrtleford, and Porepunkah,
  2. Identify the valuable elements of their landscape and streetscape character,
  3. Define a preferred future character for residential areas that have commonalities, identified as Character Typology Areas,
  4. Develop Design Guidelines to provide certainty to the community and development industry of intended built form and landscape outcomes for residential development, and
  5. Set an Implementation Plan for neighbourhood character and support Council decision-making for future residential development.

Neighbourhood character does not prevent or restrict development or density. This is governed by the zone of the land (i.e., properties in General Residential Zone can build up to three storeys). Neighbourhood character considers setbacks, fabric, landscape and public/private realm that forms the make up of an area, which a planning application should consider.


There will be multiple opportunities for you to have your say on the NCS, including:

  • Online survey (please refer to the survey on this page)
  • In-person pop-ups in Bright, Mount Beauty/Tawonga South, Myrtleford and Porepunkah

Due to the extent of the assessment, we will only be accepting responses from existing residents.

Upon review of preliminary community feedback and any further technical investigation by consultants, there will also be a formal four-week public exhibition period to provide final submissions to the document.

Typologies of the Neighbourhood Character Study