Reports, Plans and Studies

Learn more about our accessibility policies, Accessibility Annual Status Report and Multi-Year Accessibility Plan.

Asset management ensures that we maintain and properly look after our assets. This policy will support the County in focusing its infrastructure efforts on managing risks, addressing priorities, and meeting short and long-term needs within the bounds of available funding.

View our Asset Management Policy

Municipalities across Ontario are facing challenges to fund their infrastructure at levels that ensure sustainability due to aging assets, increasing renewal needs and pressures from a changing climate and growing population.

In response to Ontario Regulation 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure, Northumberland County has prepared comprehensive Asset Management Plans for core infrastructure assets (roads, bridges, large culverts, retaining walls and storm sewers), corporate facilities, fleet, natural heritage and road infrastructure detailing the state of these assets and how to make the best possible investment decisions.

These Asset Management Plans enable County staff to make informed decisions regarding the operation, maintenance, renewal, replacement and disposal of our assets.

• Core Infrastructure Assets (Roads, Structures and Storm Sewers) Asset Management Plan 
• Corporate Facilities Asset Management Plan 
• Fleet Asset Management Plan 
• Natural Heritage Asset Management Plan 
• Road Infrastructure Asset Management Plan 

In recognition of Canada 150, the County released a publication entitled ‘150 Stories and Images of Arrival in Northumberland County’. The publication captured 75 stories and 75 sets of images from people detailing their own immigration experience – or that of their family members – to Northumberland County.  

The Canada 150 project was conceived and produced as a part of Northumberland County’s ongoing work through its immigration portal, growing and sustaining newcomer business investment and settlement to the area.

View the publication below, or download an accessible PDF version.

Northumberland County’s 10-Year Communications Master Plan 2023-2033 is designed to guide the organization’s efforts to build more inclusive and effective public services and greater trust in local government by fostering a community that is informed about County services, and engaged in shaping municipal priorities, policies, and programs.

Learn more about our Communications Master Plan

Ensuring both the availability and the affordability of housing are important for fostering a strong and vibrant community. The focus of the Northumberland County Affordable Housing Strategy is to increase the supply of housing throughout Northumberland at various levels of affordability, in order to meet the needs of our residents.

This strategy recommends 44 actions to help address key local housing gaps. These actions include policy and process changes, as well as planning and financial incentives that the County and member municipalities can use to encourage the development of additional affordable rental and ownership units.

To learn more about the County’s commitment over the next six years to address the community’s housing system, please view our Community and Housing Master Plan 2023-2028.

In 2018, Northumberland County’s Early Years Services Division initiated a comprehensive community engagement project to identify priorities, actions, and indicators of success for the Early Years Sector. The result of this consultation was the creation of a rich and ambitious Early Learning and Child Care Service Plan to guide the system from 2019 through to 2024.

View the Early Learning and Child Care Services Plan Update

View our 2025 Feed Change Report to learn more about local food support and to view our food distribution and usage data for food banks and school nutrition programs in Northumberland.

Northumberland County’s 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan outlines a long-term vision and strategic plan for affordable housing and homeless related programs and services, and identifies objectives that reflect the unique issues and needs of our area.

View the Northumberland Housing and Homelessness Plan 2019-2029

An accessible version of this document is available upon request.

Each year, we release an annual report highlighting community partnerships that provide housing and homelessness supports for Northumberland residents:

• 2023 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report 
• 2022 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report 
• 2021 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report
• 2019 and 2020 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report
• 2018 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report
• 2017 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report

In 2023, Northumberland County commissioned a third-party review to develop recommendations for advancing a community-wide response model of infrastructure and services to support those experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

• Read the Council Report (Report 2023-077: Vink Shelter System Review)
• Read the Homelessness Support System Review Report by Vink Consulting

This strategy was developed in August 2019 through consultations with residents, County Council, County staff, educational institutions, and local businesses and organizations. Northumberland’s Digital Strategy identifies current challenges related to digital infrastructure in our community, and looks ahead to seek opportunities for digital innovation, engagement and growth.

Digital Strategy Overview

Digital Strategy 2019 (Full Report)

An Integrated Economic Development Master Plan bolsters the local economy and ensures the community’s continued vibrancy. In creating an Integrated Economic Development Master Plan for Northumberland, the Economic Development department conducted face-to-face consultations and sought input from over 100 key community stakeholders. The mandate in creating this draft plan was to provide an ongoing framework for development – to insure that the qualities that make the County unique remain a critical component of future work.

View our Economic Development Master Plan.

View our Emergency Management Plan.

• 2025 Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan
• 2023 Consumption and Emissions Report 
• 2022 Consumption and Emissions Report 
• 2021 Consumption and Emissions Report 
• 2020 Consumption and Emissions Report
• 2019 Consumption and Emissions Report

Learn more about our services, accomplishments and financial health in our financial annual reports.

Northumberland County has developed a Northumberland County Forest Mangement Plan to guide the sustainable management of the County Forest over the next twenty years.

This high-level plan identifies strategies and long-term goals to strengthen recreation opportunities in the Forest, while ensuring strong natural and cultural heritage conservation practices designed to preserve this community asset for future generations. 

The plan incorporates feedback gathered over four years of public consultations with residents, forest user groups, First Nations communities, local municipal councils, advisory committees and stakeholders, which took place from 2018 to 2021.

View the Forest Management Plan

Golden Plough Lodge (GPL) is our long-term care home. Learn more about the GPL’s services and values:

• Golden Plough Lodge Strategic Plan

Learn more about Northumberland County Archives and Museum.

NCAM Strategic Plan 2020-2023

Learn more about our Official Plan.

• Northumberland County Official Plan
• Schedule A – Land Use Map
• Schedule B – Resource Areas, Constraint Areas and Waste Management Map
• Schedule C – Transportation Map
• Schedules D1 to D10 – Industrial Lands to be Re-designated in Local Official Plans

The Cycling Master Plan (CMP) was created as a guide to enable the planning, financing and implementation of a countywide cycling network.

The CMP includes several cycling routes, and various road improvements and upgrades that comprise a 20-year planning horizon. Furthermore, the CMP includes the implementation of signage and infrastructure improvements as well as awareness programs that promote education and safety procedures to cyclists and motorists.

County Council finalized and endorsed the CMP in 2012 with the involvement and support of an avid group of cyclists and the County’s member municipalities.

View our Cycling Master Plan.

Northumberland County has initiated a Master Plan to identify a drainage plan for the overall study area. The County completed a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) for County Road 2, from Burnham/William Street in Cobourg to Hamilton Road in the Municipality of Port Hope, that was approved by the MOECC in 2016. The EA recommended that a Master Drainage Plan (MDP) be developed for the study area.

The intent of the MDP is to:

• Confirm existing and proposed drainage patterns as well as future development plans in the study area
• Address existing flooding issues at the Unnamed Watercourse 07 East
• Develop future development targets for stormwater in the study area to assist developers, the County, Town of Cobourg and Hamilton Township with development review and approval

This study is being conducted in accordance with the requirements for Master Plans of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (October 2000, as amended in 2007, 2011 and 2015).

Learn more about this project

• To receive a digital copy of the presentation slides from the Master Drainage Plan Public Information Centre No. 1, please submit a request using our Resource Request Form.
• Master Drainage Plan Public Information Centre No. 2 Presentation – June 17, 2019

View the 2025 Northumberland County Salt Management Plan.

In 2014, we embarked on the development of a Transportation Master Plan (TMP), which will be a guide to County Council and staff in determining how to improve our transportation services. Following an extensive consultation and development process, County Council adopted the TMP in March of 2017. The TMP provides a long-range planning document that will assist decision makers in establishing and prioritizing the needs of the County’s transportation infrastructure.

View our Transportation Master Plan.

View the Northumberland County Service Delivery Review.

Learn more about our mission, vision, values and key priorities:

View our 2023-2027 Community Strategic Plan

In 2015, the County engaged in discussions with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and Metrolinx to advance the case for expanding GO Transit service coverage to Northumberland County, specifically to Port Hope and Cobourg. In 2017, the County completed its first Transportation Master Plan (TMP), which recommended completing a business case study for the extension of GO transit services into the County and continuing discussions with Metrolinx to improve regional transit connectivity.

To align with the TMP recommendations, in May 2019, the County retained AECOM to develop a business case and implementation strategy for the extension of GO Transit service beyond Bowmanville through to Northumberland County and assess the economic challenges and benefits to the County, member municipalities, and the Region as a whole.

View the GO Expansion Business Case and Economic Impact Study

A partnership of concerned municipalities, comprised of the Counties of Northumberland and Hastings and the cities of Kingston, Belleville, and Quinte West, issued a report Sept 8, 2022, urging VIA Rail Canada to restore commuter Train 651 – a vital link between Eastern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area. Train 651 was suspended during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and was not returned to service. In response, the report The Case for Getting VIA Train 651 Back on Track: The Critical Importance of Commuter Train Services for Eastern Ontario, was produced, detailing the critical need for return of the service for Train 651.

View the report

The Long-Term Waste Management Master Plan guides our programs and services to achieve our long-term goal of keeping 75% of residential waste out of the landfill.

• Long-Term Waste Management Master Plan Overview
• Long-Term Waste Management Master Plan Report