Feedback was received through 62 quick poll responses, 21 survey submissions and five emails.

Quick Poll snapshot

Community sentiment on whether the plan is on the right track:

• 21% – Completely reflects my priorities
• 29% – Mostly covers what’s important to me
• 24% – Partially covers my priorities
• 22% – Does not reflect my priorities
• 3% – Unsure

Overall. a mixed set of views, with around half feeling the plan is heading in the right direction.

Survey Themes

Feedback covered a range of priorities:

• Infrastructure (29%) – Roads, footpaths, bins, signage, parking
• Safety and security (24%) – School zones, lighting, public safety
• Climate and sustainability (10%) – Stronger climate goals, greenery, biodiversity
• Housing and social issues (10%) – Homelessness, mental health
• Diversity and inclusion (10%) – Accessible spaces, neurodiversity support
• Positive feedback (10%) – Well-structured and comprehensive
• Negative feedback (10%) – Gaps and priorities need improvement

Email Submissions

Key points included:

• Positive feedback with recommendations for improvement
• Inclusive language updates (e.g., “people with visible and non-visible disabilities”)
• Calls for intercultural engagement and anti-racism measures
• Emphasis on physical infrastructure and climate resilience
• Youth Engagement Team support for wellbeing, inclusion, sustainability, plus requests for:
  • Mental health prioritisation
  • Greater investment in arts and culture
  • Stronger representation of young people

Feedback was received through eight survey submissions and one email.

Survey Feedback

Community views were diverse, with key themes:

• Rates and clarity (50%) – Concerns about rate increases and how charges are applied, especially to private institutions. Calls for clearer explanations.
• Financial transparency (25%) – Requests for stronger links between spending and Council goals.
• Reduce spending and costs (25%) – Suggestions to cut costs, reduce staff numbers, and avoid new projects.
• Positive feedback (13%) – Some residents felt the plan was balanced and encouraged community contributions.

Email Submission

The Youth Engagement Team commended the plan’s balanced approach and reinvestment in valued community assets. They recommended:

• Youth-led micro-grants and participatory budgeting
• Clearer visibility of funding for youth centres, digital access, and youth-specific programs.

Feedback was received through 9 survey responses.

Key Themes

• Environmental assets and parks (33%) – Strong support for investment in gardens, new parks, and nature reserves as vital community assets.
• Road maintenance and infrastructure (22%) – Concerns about potholes, footpaths, road safety, and maintenance standards.
• Sustainability (22%) – Calls to promote sustainability through infrastructure investments.
• Community services and housing (11%) – Suggestions for housing and mental health support.
• Positive feedback (11%) – Appreciation for community engagement and alignment with the Council Plan.

Feedback was received through 10 survey submissions and three emails.

Survey Feedback

Community views covered a broad range of topics:

• Positive feedback (30%) – Strong support for Council’s climate leadership and embedding climate action.
• Climate scepticism (30%) – Doubts about the climate emergency and feasibility of net zero goals.
• Emission targets (20%) – Calls for clearer targets and actions to reduce emissions and transition to renewables.
• Urban greening (20%) – Requests for more trees, green spaces, and native plants.
• Climate preparedness (10%) – Suggestions for better community support to prepare for severe weather events.

Email Submissions

Highlights included:

• Commendation for Council’s leadership and pollution reduction goals.
• Recommendation for public progress updates on emission targets.
• Advocacy for investment in active transport infrastructure (bike lanes, e-scooters) to promote sustainable travel.

In the 2025–2026 financial year, we’re focusing on:

· Continuing the Social Cohesion Taskforce to prevent and respond to racism and division, building a safer, more inclusive community.

· Developing and implementing a Community Safety Framework to guide local safety initiatives, ensuring everyone feels secure in public spaces.

· Collaborating with external providers and stakeholders like Victoria Police to host events such as ‘Coffee with a Cop’ sessions, promoting trust and safety.

· Delivering learning opportunities on online safety to improve digital literacy and protect residents from cyber threats.

· Providing a wide range of inclusive and accessible events to celebrate diversity and strengthen community bonds, including Harmony Week, Diwali, and International Day of People With a Disability.

· Supporting our LGBTIQA+ community through events and partnerships, and adopting a Diversity and Inclusion Framework to benchmark and improve our policies, making services more accessible and welcoming for all.

· Reviewing and delivering the annual Community Grants Program to support initiatives and programs delivered by local community groups that strengthen community connections.

· Partnering with local providers to support homeless individuals by developing protocols and advocacy campaigns, helping vulnerable residents access essential services.

· Designing and implementing gendered violence prevention initiatives and events to educate the community, build partnerships, reduce harm, and promote equality.

· Providing opportunities for people to connect in their local neighbourhoods through events and programs, helping reduce isolation and build stronger communities.

· Engaging with groups most at risk from climate change, identifying barriers, and developing plans to help protect them.

· Facilitating leadership programs and partnerships for community groups and neighbourhood houses to strengthen local organisations and expand support services.

· Joining the Welcoming Cities network to advance inclusion and participation for all, including capacity-building for Council and community leaders.

· Continuing to recognise and celebrate First Nations culture through targeted arts and cultural programs and opportunities for First Nations artists.

· Reviewing and delivering community and business awards to celebrate contributions to inclusion and connection.

In the 2025–2026 financial year, we’re focusing on:

· Beginning construction of the Mackie Road Reserve Pavilion in Bentleigh East to meet the growing needs of sports clubs and encourage community participation in sport.

· Building a dog park at the Orange Street end of Mackie Road Reserve in Bentleigh East to provide a dedicated space for dogs and their owners to enjoy.

· Upgrading accessibility in public buildings and parks by installing empathetic parking bays —specially designed parking spaces for people with different needs — and improving facilities to ensure equitable access for all.

· Advocating for improved access to Caulfield Racecourse Reserve by working with the Reserve Trust and other partners to deliver upgrades like new access points and better connections for the community.

· Exploring new public open spaces in areas that need them most, increasing opportunities for recreation and social connection.

· Delivering safety upgrades around schools and shopping centres through the Better Streets, Better Places project to reduce traffic risks and make walking safer for everyone.

· Renewing playgrounds at key parks to support active living and provide safe, engaging spaces for children and families. This includes repairing and expanding cricket nets at Packer Park in Carnegie, refreshing the playground at Glen Huntly Park, and installing new seats, lights, and drinking fountains at parks across the City.

· Upgrading roads and footpaths across the City to ensure they’re safe and accessible for everyone, including improving drainage to reduce flooding risks and repairing streetlights and furniture for safer nature strips.

· Developing a Community Infrastructure Plan to make sure facilities stay relevant and accessible for current and future needs.

· Upgrading and expanding the cycling network, including more bike parking in shopping strips and improvements to the Djerring Trail, Frankston Rail Trail, and the Green Link along the Sandringham train line near Gardenvale Station.

· Advocating for more diverse and affordable housing options and protecting heritage places to support changing community needs.

· Upgrading shopping strips and activity centres with better footpaths, seating, gardens, and public toilets to support local businesses and make public spaces more welcoming.

· Supporting local businesses and community groups through partnerships, activations, and public art projects to help our local economy thrive.

· Reviewing parking management in busy areas to make it easier for people to find a spot and support local upgrades.

· Improving signage and lighting to help people navigate public spaces safely, especially around transport corridors and activity centres.

In the 2025–2026 financial year, we’re focusing on:

· Holding community indigenous planting events in partnership with Traditional Owners, to enhance the greenery of our open spaces and support local biodiversity.

· Conducting biodiversity surveys at target sites across Glen Eira to assess and protect local flora and fauna and support overall environmental health.

· Educating the community about protecting waterways through events and campaigns, reducing litter and pollution.

· Working with partners to update the Elster Creek Catchment Flood Management Plan and develop a Litter Action Plan to improve water management and reduce flood risk.

· Expanding our canopy cover and planting trees, shrubs and native plants across the City as part of our Urban Forest Strategy work. This includes new trees throughout our parks and open spaces — and as part of our annual Community Planting Week activities — and trees along residential trees. These will help create a greener Glen Eira, reduce the impacts of urban heat and support our ambitious goal to increase canopy cover across Glen Eira to 22 per cent by 2040.

· Continuing our climate emergency work to reduce council emissions by taking Council buildings off gas, including at Caulfield Park and Mckinnon Kindergarten, and beginning the transition at facilities including Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre in Bentleigh East and East Bentleigh Senior Citizens Centre.

· Transitioning Council fleet to electric vehicles to lower emissions and work towards our zero Council emissions target.

· Collaborating with First Nations organisations to protect biodiversity and embed Caring for Country principles into our work to strengthen environmental stewardship and cultural connection.

· Delivering targeted waste reduction programs and circular economy initiatives to help the community reduce landfill and recycle more. This includes regular Repair Café events where residents can have broken and damaged household items repaired — extending their life and keeping waste from landfill.

· Researching community climate emissions to guide future climate action.

· Promoting First Nations perspectives and Caring for Country principles in Council advocacy and education.

· Investigating and addressing sources of air pollution to inform future advocacy and operation work, and improve local air quality.

In the 2025–2026 financial year, we’re focusing on:

· Developing a Financial Sustainability Strategy and continuing to host ongoing conversations with our community about our long-term financial sustainability journey.

· Refreshing the Asset Strategy and Policy to improve the way we manage community assets like roads and buildings to ensure they remain fit for purpose and deliver value to the community.

· Reviewing how we lease and license Council facilities, so more people can use and benefit from community spaces.

· Progressing the Strategic Property Plan by investigating key sites for future development to support community growth and make sure new projects meet local needs.

· Developing a new Grants Framework to help secure more funding for local projects and partnerships.

· Continuing to ensure accessible summaries of key Council decisions are available for the community to enhance transparency and build community trust.

· Adopting a Digital and Technology Strategy and AI Framework to modernise service delivery, improve customer experience, and support innovation.

· Implementing the Workforce Plan to build staff capability and engagement, ensuring high-quality services for the community.

· Enhancing innovation capacity by developing an Innovation Framework and conducting co-design workshops, driving continuous improvement.

· Continuing ongoing conversations with our community and work about Council’s long term financial sustainability journey.

· Supporting more self-service options for customers to make accessing Council services easier.

Our Council Plan 2025–2029 is our shared vision and roadmap for the next four years. It’ll keep us on track to deliver our long-term Community Vision — that Glen Eira is a thriving and empowered community working together for an inclusive and sustainable future.

The Plan will guide our decisions about projects and services and sets out what we’ll focus on and how we’ll allocate our resources each year over the four-year period.

This Plan is special because, for the first time, it fully includes our health, wellbeing and inclusion priorities. By putting these priorities into our Council Plan, we’re making them part of everything that we do for the next four years.

We've divided our priorities into four main areas. These themes have been developed and refined using community feedback.

• Community safety, cohesion, health and wellbeing — what we’ll do to keep our community safe, healthy and connected.
• Diverse, welcoming and accessible places — what we’ll do to make sure our public spaces and places are open to everyone, friendly and easy to get around.
• Environmental stewardship — what we’ll do to care for and protect the environment.
• Innovation and financial sustainability — what we’ll do to try new and smart ideas, and to use money and resources responsibly.

The Financial Plan 2025–2035 is our roadmap for making responsible and smart decisions about money and resources. It plans our future spending, saving and investment so we can continue delivering and maintaining our services and infrastructure.

Through Our Place, Our Plan we heard that the most important services to you are

• Parks, gardens, playgrounds and open space
• Roads, footpaths and cycling
• Rubbish collection and waste management
• Sporting grounds, swimming pools, gyms and recreation centre
• Libraries.

This matches what we’ve heard from our community a lot over the last few years. So, we’ll keep focusing our time and money on getting these basic services right for everyone. We also know that transparency and fairness is important to you when it comes to how we make decisions and spend money.

With your feedback in mind, through our Financial Plan we will:

• Review how we deliver services to identify smarter, more cost-effective models — making sure every dollar is spent where it's needed most.

• Better manage our community assets by repurposing or consolidating underused facilities and reinvesting in open space, parks and essential infrastructure.

• Advocate for fairer funding and explore more equitable user-pays models so we can sustainably maintain the services and facilities you rely on.

Our Asset Plan 2025–2035 is our 10-year approach to managing community assets like buildings, roads and parks. Keeping these valued assets in good shape supports our community’s quality of life, now and in the future.

Through Our Place, Our Plan we heard that you want us to maintain assets and facilities at their current standards, rather than investing in new or expanding current assets. Your most-used and most-valued assets include things like parks and gardens, footpaths and roads.

With your feedback in mind, through our Asset Plan we will:

• Look after what we have. We’re focusing on maintaining and renewing existing assets like parks, roads, footpaths and community buildings, rather than building new ones.

• Spend wisely. We’ll use data and community input to make smart, timely decisions that keep assets safe, accessible and cost-effective.

• Plan for the future. By taking a long-term view, we’ll manage costs, respond to climate and population changes, and make sure our assets meet community needs now and in the years to come.

The Climate Emergency Response Strategy 2025–2029 is our plan to tackle climate change and protect our community, environment, and future. It outlines how we’ll work with our community and others to respond to climate impacts and safeguard our health, homes and natural spaces.

The Strategy outlines ways to reduce pollution, switch to clean energy, protect nature, and prepare for extreme weather. Together, we’ll take practical steps to protect our environment and prepare for the future.

Through Our Place, Our Plan we heard that your top environmental priority is improving our green spaces and tree canopy. We also heard that you want our support to take local, personal action on climate change and want to know more about switching to clean energy, recycling more and using less plastic.

We’ve used this feedback to shape our drafts and now we want to know we’re on the right track.

With your feedback in mind, through our Climate Emergency Response Strategy we will:

• Act faster on climate change. We’re cutting emissions, powering Council with 100 per cent renewable energy, and helping the wider community move toward net zero.

• Protect green space and tree cover. We’re increasing planting, preserving existing trees and green areas, and making our neighbourhoods cooler and more climate-resilient.

• Embed climate action in everything we do. From planning and procurement to local services and infrastructure, we’re making sure climate thinking is part of every decision.