Key projects and activities

Our COVID–19 response and recovery

On Monday 16 March 2020, the Victorian Government declared a State of Emergency in Victoria due to the serious risk to public health posed by COVID-19. With this came Stay at Home restrictions, which had a significant impact on our community, especially our vulnerable residents and local businesses.

Council approved a $7.3 million Response and Recovery Package to support the Glen Eira community. Key features included: rate relief for residents; rent and fee relief for our community tenants; grants for small businesses; and grants for local organisations supporting the community through the pandemic.

We continued to provide on the ground essential services in Residential Aged Care, In-Home Support, municipal works, immunisation, parks services and community compliance. Our libraries, leisure centres and Youth Centre closed under Stage 3 restrictions and they developed online resources and programs to assist community members isolating at home. More than 500 of our staff began working from home.

We put in place a COVID-19 Pandemic Committee with senior leaders from Council and external agencies including: Victoria Police; Red Cross; Jewish Emergency Management Group; community support agencies; and local health providers. We established a seven-member dedicated multidisciplinary response recovery team from across Council, supported by more than 30 project staff, to lead our response and recovery efforts and the work of the Pandemic Committee.

While our community is resilient, we have many vulnerable groups within it. Our response and recovery work will continue into 2020–21 as the pandemic continues.

See COVID-19 response and recovery overview

See Mayor and CEO Overview

See Key projects and activities — Our COVID–19 response and recovery

Glen Eira in the future

We began talking to the community about a future Glen Eira and what sort of place it could be. More than 3,000 people responded to our community engagements and they see a Glen Eira that is sustainable; has an active, healthy and diverse community; is safe and clean; has good transport links and has kept its neighbourhood character. A 42-member community panel is now developing the Glen Eira 2040 Community Vision with a view to presenting it to Council in 2021.

See Key projects and activities — A Community Vision for a future Glen Eira 

New active spaces for young people and dogs

We’ve redeveloped four new play spaces in our parks for teens and young adults to get active. The facilities located in Ormond, Bentleigh, McKinnon and Elsternwick include bouldering walls; hit-up walls for rebound activities; half basketball and netball courts; soccer goals; metal table tennis tables and a climbing tower.

We also opened our first dedicated dog park at The Wedge in Caulfield East. Dogs and their owners use the fenced off-leash park for doggy exercise and socialisation and there is agility equipment for training.

See Key projects and activities — New active spaces to enjoy

We’re helping reduce single-use plastics from local shops

We worked with 18 food and retail businesses in Glenhuntly Road Elsternwick to replace single-use plastic items they use every day with re-usable alternatives. A first for Glen Eira — the six-month trial eliminated more than 25,000 pieces of single-use plastic from the businesses’ operations. Four businesses in the trial have now totally eliminated single-use plastics and three restaurants now use a swap-and-go reusable container and cup system. We’ll continue to help Glen Eira’s businesses go plastic-free in 2020–21.

See Key projects and activities — Helping businesses go plastic-free

Council statistics

1,357,495 Library loans. Illustration of girl carrying library books
1,038,594
Library Loans

Glen Eira Libraries are more than just a place for books. We have shaped our four library branches — Caulfield, Elsternwick, Carnegie and Bentleigh — into community spaces where people can meet, connect through technology, discover new ideas, share skills and be creative. They are also technology hubs where you can use digital resources, find e-books, digital magazines and newspapers and learn how to connect online. We are proud to offer an innovative and engaging service to 56,638 library members.

During Victoria’s State of Emergency Glen Eira Libraries were closed but produced online StoryTime videos to keep their young readers engaged with books and reading. The videos had more than 14,500 views; more than 48,000 digital items were loaned from March to June 2020; and e-book loans went from 24,256 in 2018–19 to 29,565 in 2019–20. Books were available through a new click and collect service, which saw 9,932 items borrowed by 2,015 library members from March to June 2020 under COVID-19 Stage 3 restrictions.

To join our library service, visit Glen Eira Libraries website.

1,328,604 2018—19 | 1,313,394 2017—18 | 1,357,495 2016—17

39,527
People came to our community events

Bringing our diverse community together is one of our top priorities. We hold a range of cultural events, festivals and exhibitions throughout the year, including: Groove and Graze — a series of three events across Glen Eira with live local musicians and food trucks; three Party in the Park family concerts and children’s entertainment throughout summer; and our major curated exhibitions in Council’s Gallery.

COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions meant the March Party in the Park event and the April Groove and Graze event were cancelled. Our largest annual event the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival also did not go ahead this year and will return in 2021.

To bring our community together (while isolated) we presented our National Reconciliation Week events online. We also presented online: conversations with artists, curators and local historians; weekly tutor-led art and craft activities; and a successful Live Sunday Sessions program of local Glen Eira talent, including comedians, performers and children’s entertainers.

For more information, visit the Arts and Culture page on our website.

62,963 2018—19 | 69,311 2017—18 | 56,562 2016—17

9,490
participants in Youth Services programs and events

Glen Eira Youth Services offers a range of events, programs and support services to young people aged 10 to 25 to maintain their health and wellbeing, and to help them connect with each other and their community. Our range of school and community programs include: Girl Up — an initiative for girls to work on a range of projects and develop strong leadership and communication skills; a Youth Leadership Team — 12 volunteers who organise and lead the production of major Glen Eira youth events; and a Healthy Relationships Program — for secondary school students in Glen Eira to learn about healthy and unhealthy peer relationships. The service conducts around 270 community and educational sessions per year.

Our face-to face-youth services were closed during Victoria’s State of Emergency. The Service continued to support Glen Eira’s vulnerable young people by providing online community programs, delivering school holiday activity packs to more than 80 families and providing a new Social Distancing Support Program for young people who struggled with the challenges of social isolation and online learning.

For more information, visit the Glen Eira Youth Services page on our website.

10,161 2018—19 | 9,630 2017—18 | 6,538 2016—17

16,476 Maternal and Child Health Key Ages and Stages visits. Illustration of a pram
13,427
Maternal and Child Health Key Ages and Stages visits
Our Maternal and Child Health Service provides free help to Glen Eira families with children from birth to under school age. The Service provides 10 Key Ages and Stages visits from birth to three-and-a-half years-of-age for all children and their families in Glen Eira. The consultations are conducted by registered nurses and look at the child’s health and wellbeing achievements at each of the 10 stages. Key Ages and Stages consultations were conducted over the phone throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Birth notices received over the last two financial years have averaged 1,616 compared to 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 where they averaged 1,814.

For more information, visit the Maternal and Child Health Service page on our website.

14,469 2018—19 | 15,100 2017—18 | 16,476 2016—17

11,575 Immunisations. Illustration of a doctor
11,005
Immunisations

Immunisation protects children and the community from harmful and contagious diseases. We provide free vaccinations to the Glen Eira community as part of the National Immunisation Schedule. Our biggest focus is on providing immunisations for children aged six weeks to four years and through school programs for adolescents aged 12 to 16. We also administer catch-up immunisations for people under 20 years moving to Australia from overseas. During 2020, we introduced ‘super flu clinics’ to provide free flu vaccinations to children aged six months — under five years of age. Glen Eira’s immunisation coverage for children aged five and under is an average of 94.1 per cent. The state average is 95.6 per cent.

During the State of Emergency, 2,069 people accessed our community flu immunisation sessions, an increase of 398 on the previous year. Many of those being vaccinated were accessing the Over 65s free flu shot program.

For more information, visit the Immunising your child page on our website.

10,590 2018—19 | 11,534 2017—18 | 11,575 2016—17

43,393 Meals delivered. Illustration of a hot meal.
29,623
Meals delivered and provided*

Our Delivered Meals service is for people in Glen Eira who are having trouble maintaining healthy balanced nutrition and who would benefit from receiving a regular cooked meal daily, a few times a week, or for a set period of time while they recover from illness. During 2019–20, more than 250 people used this service.

The service also provides lunch to participants of our Social Support Program. This Program provides frail older people and people with disabilities with opportunities for friendship through social activities, including gentle exercise, craft activities, outdoor activities and music therapy. During 2019–20, more than 120 people used this service.

There has been a steady reduction in the demand for our Delivered Meals service since 2009–10.** The demand dipped further in 2019–20 (8,277) due to a reported Listeria outbreak at the site of our contracted meals provider, which resulted in a disruption to the range of meals available and concerns about safety from our clients. Demand stayed low as we onboarded a new provider in September 2019. Our meals demand has grown from March 2020 (471 meals a week) to 30 June 2020 (737 meals a week) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, visit the Delivered Meals page on our website.

*Combined Delivered Meals program and Social Support Program group meals.

37,900 2018—19 | 40,628 2017—18 | 43,393 2016—17 | 87,219** 2009—10

1.5 million Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre annual visits. Illustration of a person in lifting weights
1,239,621
Glen Eira Leisure visits*

Glen Eira Leisure offers fitness, recreation and relaxation for all ages and abilities across three sites — Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre (GESAC), Caulfield Recreation Centre and Carnegie Swim Centre. GESAC is the largest site and one of Australia’s premier sports and aquatic facilities providing state-of-the-art equipment, an indoor sports stadium, Olympic-sized swimming pool and group fitness training facilities. GESAC’s aquatic services are centered around its four pools and include a Swim School Program, an aquatic wellness area to relax and rehabilitate, and a swim squad for dedicated lap swimmers. Glen Eira Leisure currently has 13,067 members.

During Victoria’s State of Emergency, Glen Eira Leisure facilities were closed, significantly affecting the number of visits for the year. Online exercise and fitness classes were launched via GEL Anywhere with 168 instructional videos including high intensity interval training, yoga, pilates and zumba, viewed more than 120,000 times (5,800 hours) locally and internationally.

For more information, visit the Glen Eira Leisure website or visit them on Facebook page to see the videos.

*GESAC (1,118,428) Carnegie Swim Centre (62,634), Caulfield Recreation Centre (58,559).
**GESAC (1,581,859), Carnegie Swim Centre (87,789), Caulfield Recreation Centre (75,391).
***GESAC (1,541,980), Carnegie Swim Centre (90,674), Caulfield Recreation Centre (49,061). We took over management of the Caulfield Recreation Centre and Carnegie Swim Centre and combined with GESAC to form Glen Eira Leisure in October 2017.
†GESAC figure only.

1,745,039** 2018—19 | 1,681,785*** 2017—18 | 1,500,000† 2016—17

1,997 new dwellings approved. Illustration of a single storey house
1,177
New Rateable Residential Properties

Glen Eira continues to see an increase in housing density with standalone houses gradually being replaced by townhouses and apartments. In 2019–20, there was a decrease of 269 houses. The number of newly rateable units and townhouses increased by 508 and newly rateable flats and apartments increased by 938.

Newly rateable residential property figures indicate that from 2016–17 to 2017–18* there was a decrease of 668 houses, an increase of 854 units and townhouses and an increase of 2,096 flats and apartments. There are 63,665 households in Glen Eira.

*Rating valuations for properties prior to 2018 were conducted every two years. Rating valuations for properties are now conducted annually.

1,345
.
2018–19
.
(Houses 443 decrease; units and townhouses 667 increase; flats and apartments 1,121 increase.)
2,282
.
2016–18*
.
(Houses 668 decrease; units and townhouses 854 increase; flats and apartments 2,096 increase.)
2,090 Street trees planted. Illustration of a tree in the street
950
Street Trees Planted
Being green and leafy is an important part of Glen Eira’s character. We’ve increased the number of street trees from 30,000 to more than 50,000 over the past 20 years. Our street tree planting program was suspended in March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. We planted 684 of the planned 1,000 new street trees and replaced 266 of the planned 1,000 replacement street trees before COVID-19 restrictions came into place. In addition to this, we continue to undertake regular monitoring of street trees’ health to ensure they are thriving and do not pose any risk to public safety or property.

For more information, visit the Street trees page on our website.

2,077  2018—19  |  2,038  2017—18  |  2090  2016—17

Total waste recycled 45.3 per cent (13,225 tonnes)
49%
(27,079 tonnes)
Total Waste Recycled

We collect recyclables through fortnightly collections of our combined food waste/green waste bin and our recycling bin for glass, plastics, metal and paper. We also provide residents with three hard rubbish, branch or cardboard collections per year for larger amounts of waste. Glen Eira recycles nearly half of its waste.

Our new food waste recycling service allows residents to recycle food waste that would have otherwise gone to landfill. In 2019–20, we decreased our garbage going to landfill by around 13 tonnes, despite increased activity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This means our greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere have decreased by 18.2 tonnes CO2 equivalent.

For more information, visit the Rubbish and recycling page on our website.

46%    23,810 tonnes 2018–19
44.3% 24,044 tonnes 2017–18
45.3% 13,225 tonnes 2016–17

Service delivery

Services that Council delivers for every $100 of rates and charges revenue (2019–2020):

CAPITAL WORKS PROGRAM
$35.36
PLANNING FOR GROWTH
AND THE FUTURE
$4.83
URBAN MAINTENANCE
$13.01
RECYCLING AND WASTE
$12.82
SERVICES FOR FAMILIES
AND THE COMMUNITY
$6.84
SERVICES FOR THE AGED
$5.33
PARKS AND RECREATION
$15.68
LIBRARIES
$4.05
COMMUNITY SAFETY
$0.75
CULTURAL SERVICES
$1.33
Please note: this represents the services
that are funded by rates and charges,
including the waste charge.