All of feedback received during the two-month campaign was pulled together in a comprehensive report and discussed in detail at the 19 December Council meeting. Councillors thanked everyone in the community who had their say and committed to using the feedback to help it make financially sustainable future plans.

Council received 1,755 community responses our community survey and held 1,773 conversations through 14 pop-up engagements. We reached 420 people across four harder-to-reach groups through 14 targeted activities; 152 young people across five pop-up sessions and involvement with three schools; and we spoke with four Council Advisory Committees.

What you told us

• The most important services for you are parks, gardens, playgrounds and open spaces; sporting grounds, swimming pools, gyms, and recreation centres; roads, footpaths, traffic management and cycling infrastructure; rubbish collection and waste management; and libraries.
• Less important are business support information services; seniors programs; diversity and inclusion programs; permits for building and planning; and community groups, grants and support.
• There is limited appeal reducing the range of Council services.

We also asked how you thought we should reduce costs or raise more funds to pay for services:

• Sponsorships and partnerships are the preferred way to raise money to keep current Council services, followed by increasing fees for service users;
• Putting off building new facilities and/or replacing existing ones are the preferred ways to make savings; and
• Reducing spending on some services could be acceptable if it means the same range of services can still be provided even if to a lesser standard.

Community Priorities Panel

The 35-member Community Priorities Panel reflected Glen Eira’s rich diversity and provided four recommendations regarding services and infrastructure, including for Council to:

• Continue providing community wellbeing services at current levels including services for people with disadvantage, aged, youth, people with disability, maternal and children.
• Review community wellbeing services at least once every four years.
• Maximise the use of existing assets.
• Improve digital and online touch points between the community and Council.

The Panel also provided five recommendations on the best options for raising money or make savings to pay for what we value most:

• Investigating income sources and opportunities in public parking, including expansion and enforcement of parking laws.
• Having users pays for the extension of current services.
• Seeking opportunities to commercialise Council assets and services.
• Increasing fees and charges for property development.
• Investigating ways for Council to increase its own efficiency.

The full Engagement summary report can be read here: Our Priorities, Our Future engagement summary report [PDF 3.7Mb]

We will share more information regarding Our Priorities, Our Future in the February edition of Glen Eira News.