The future of a river trail connecting Shepparton and Murchison was discussed at council’s May meeting.
A 46km shared pathway connecting Shepparton and Murchison will have to wait until Greater Shepparton City Council has the “financial and resource ability to bring it to life”.
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The Goulburn River Trail is a proposed multi-use 3m wide gravel or bitumen trail.
The trail would closely follow the Goulburn River to connect Shepparton to Murchison via Mooroopna, Toolamba and Old Toolamba, with a 12km link to Tatura.
The proposed route would be designed to showcase key attractions of the region, complement existing trails and provide a range of tracks catering to a mix of users.
It also must follow environmental regulations, especially regarding native vegetations and waterway crossings.
The Goulburn River Exploratory Study Report suggested establishing the trail route was feasible, and required an estimated investment of between about $5 million and $14.6 million.
At council’s May meeting, Cr Sam Spinks put forward the motion that council note the Goulburn River Trail Exploratory Study Report from November 2024, and the preferred trail route outlined in it.
The proposed Goulburn River Trail route in council's exploratory study report.
Cr Spinks said the river trail was “an epic tourism project” that’d had exploration work going on “in the background” for “quite a long time”.
“There’s still a lot of work for this to become a formal project,” she said.
“For now, what we are endorsing is for the report itself to be put on public display and to be ready for if, in the future, council decides to continue down this route.
“I think it’s a very wonderful project, and it’s just going to be in time whether there is the financial and resource ability to bring it to life.”
Cr Spinks also made the motion that if council progress with the river trail, the final route would need further investigation, and depended on adequate budget allocation in the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 financial years to:
Conduct detailed route investigations and assessments to accurately reflect current site conditions.
Undertake detailed ecological and cultural heritage assessments, with their results helping to decide the final trail route.
Develop concept plans of the preferred alignment.
Develop a detailed business case.
Negotiate with Parks Victoria to secure leasing arrangements and resolve the ownership of the existing assets along the Goulburn River Trail.
Cr Fern Summer seconded the motion, which she said helped council “better understand the costs and infrastructure requirements”.
“It’s nice to know we’re not completely stuck on roads that carry cars, motorbikes, cars and buses, and we do also remember that we have legs and bicycles,” she said.
“Hopefully, eventually down the track when we’re in a better position financially ... we’ll be able to make it something magical and get started on building it.”
Speaking for the motion, Cr Anthony Brohpy said there were challenges relating to land ownership, access and environmental sensitivities that needed to be “carefully addressed” before council went “down that path” with a “considerable investment”.
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