Our organisation

We consulted with the community on 53 projects. This included engagement on our 2019–20 Annual Budget major initiatives: Glen Eira 2040 Community Vision, Local Law review 2019 and a safe cycling corridor pilot project.

Community consultation is a vital part of our planning and decision-making processes. It helps us to understand community priorities and issues and ensures community involvement. We are committed to engaging with our community through best practice consultation methods to achieve the best outcomes.

See Our engagement with our community

Expanding the range of services that we offer online has continued to be a focus in 2019–20. We looked at ways we could make our forms easier to use, beginning with hard rubbish, and plan to continue improving our most used forms and our more complex applications. We installed a live chat function on our website offering immediate support for community members undertaking online transactions. Some of the key benefits realised from this work include: faster results for the community through a reduction in processing times; making it easier for people to transact online at a time that suits them; and creating more opportunity for service support from home. We received more than 35,000 online requests in the last year, an increase of 42 per cent on last year. We will continue to engage and work with our customers to ensure our service delivery is timely, convenient and meets future expectations.

2019–20 has seen us continue our comprehensive strategic planning program to shape the future of Glen Eira’s activity centres. We engaged with the Victorian State Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to progress the endorsed structure plans for Bentleigh and Carnegie to Planning Scheme Amendment stage, as well as obtaining permission from the Minister to exhibit proposed Planning Scheme Amendment C184, which will translate the structure plans for Bentleigh and Carnegie into the Glen Eira Planning Scheme. We made substantial progress on the structure plan for East Village in Bentleigh East, with a decision on the planning scheme amendment to be made in 2020–21. Two stages of community engagement on future aspirations for Glen Huntly have been undertaken, leading to the development of a draft Structure Plan for the central Glen Huntly area, which seeks to make the most of opportunities arising from the planned removal of level crossings at Glenhuntly and Neerim Roads. We have continued to work with the Victorian Planning Authority on the Caulfield Station Precinct Structure Plan, with further steps planned for this project in 2020–21. We have commenced scoping for Urban Design Frameworks for three pilot Neighbourhood Activity Centres: Caulfield Park, Caulfield South and Bentleigh East, with drafts of this work expected later in 2020.

On Tuesday 13 August 2019, Council received and heard public submissions on the proposed Local Laws 2019 as per the requirements of sections 119 and 223 of Victoria’s Local Government Act 1989. The new Glen Eira City Council Community Local Law 2019 and the Glen Eira Council Meeting Procedure 2019 were adopted on Wednesday 6 November. Local Laws help us maintain a safe, enjoyable, peaceful and healthy environment for the community and provide for the administration of Council’s powers and functions. At a Special Council Meeting on Wednesday 3 November, Rosstown Ward Councillor Margaret Esakoff was elected Mayor of Glen Eira for the 2019–20 Council year. Camden Ward Councillor Dan Sztrajt, who is serving his first term on Council, was elected Deputy Mayor.

An important part of our role is advocating in the interests of our community. In-line with our Glen Eira Advocacy Strategy 2018−2020, we successfully secured $30.6 million in government funding across the last year. This included a $10 million low interest loan from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Community Infrastructure Loan Scheme for the upgrade of Bentleigh Library and Eat Street Bentleigh (each project received $5 million); $2.6 million for the construction of two new pocket parks — Bentleigh Plaza (which includes an additional $1.3 million towards our Eat Street Project) and Aileen Avenue, Caulfield South; an $80,000 grant from the Victorian State Department of Health and Human Services for the Community Shed project at Moorleigh Village in Bentleigh East; a commitment of $10.5 million towards the construction of two car parks — Bleazby Street, Bentleigh and Stanley Street, Elsternwick; and in response to COVID-19, $7.4 million for new employment opportunities thanks to the State Government’s $500 million Working for Victoria program. For more information see our Advocacy priorities.