In 2021–22, we achieved 53 out of the 69 commitments outlined in the 2021–22 Action Plan of the Glen Eira Council Plan 2021–2025. Of the 16 items not delivered, two were deferred and eight were outside of Council’s control due to the impacts of COVID-19. Some of our major achievements included endorsing the Community Engagement Strategy 2022–2026, developing the Climate Conversations program, implementing the Glen Eira Community Wellbeing Plan 2021–2025, developing our Advocacy Policy, securing more than $17 million in Federal election funding commitments, and establishing a Business and Economy Advisory Committee.

For more information see Council Plan.

The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continued to impact our operations throughout 2021 and into 2022.

Although many services were impacted, we continued to support the community through the lockdown periods and through the provision of online services. Our annual budget reflects the challenges, expenses and shortfalls we experienced. We anticipate we will continue to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for many years to come.

See our response to COVID-19 here.

Ongoing restrictions due to COVID-19 and community hesitancy to attend in-person events meant that we increased our reliance on digital methods of engagement throughout the year. We consulted with the community on 27 projects including advisory groups and committees, community surveys, questionnaires, feedback submissions and virtual public forums.

Community engagement is an integral part of our planning and decision-making processes. It is vital that we understand community priorities and listen to as many community members as we can when proposing changes or making decisions. We are committed to engaging with our community through best-practice engagement methods to achieve the best possible outcomes.

For more information see Our engagement with our community.

The number of planning decisions appealed to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) remains consistent. We have gone from 32 appeals reviewed in 2020–21 to 27 appeals reviewed in 2021–22.

We consulted with the community on our draft Housing Strategy. The draft Strategy outlines how we intend to meet the diverse housing needs of our existing and future communities for the next 15 years and beyond. The final Housing Strategy will be considered for adoption in late 2022.

Following our decision to reset the direction for the Bentleigh and Carnegie Structure Plans last year, significant progress was made to update both plans along with the Elsternwick Structure Plan. The Carnegie Structure Plan will be presented to Council in August 2022, Elsternwick in November 2022 and Bentleigh in March 2023.

We adopted Built Form Frameworks for three neighbourhood activity centres – Caulfield South, Caulfield Park and Bentleigh East. The State Government has authorised the exhibition of the Caulfield South and Caulfield Park frameworks. This, along with detailed planning controls will assist us in securing permanent height and setback controls in the Glen Eira Planning Scheme for the two centres.

We exhibited the Public Open Space (Amendment C218), which proposes to increase the open space contributions rate from 5.7 per cent to 8.3 per cent. We received a favourable panel report recommending the amendment be adopted as exhibited. We also received a favourable panel report on the Planning Scheme Update (Amendment C220). Amendment C220 proposes to implement the State Government’s Smart Planning reforms and recommendations from the Glen Eira Planning Scheme Review 2018 into the Glen Eira Planning Scheme. These recommendations include updating all existing local policies informed by the Urban Forest Strategy and Our Climate Emergency Response Strategy. The panel recommended the amendment be adopted as exhibited subject to minor changes.

We continue to add to the list of heritage properties and precincts across Glen Eira. Through the Post-War and Hidden Gems Heritage Review (Amendment C214), 25 properties and four precincts were added to the heritage overlay. Furthermore, the approval of the Carnegie and Bentleigh Heritage Review (Amendment C190) saw an additional 199 residential and 219 commercial properties receive heritage protection.

We developed a four-year cycling program and made an ongoing annual budget commitment to implement cycling improvements in accordance with the Integrated Transport Strategy 2018 and the Cycling Action Plan 2019. A design for the missing links in the Rosstown Trail was progressed to assist in the staged delivery of cycling improvements over the coming years.

An important part of our role is advocating to other levels of government for what is important to our community. The Glen Eira Council Plan 2021–2025 sets out a strong commitment for Council to advocate for funding and policy reform to support the priorities of our community. Council adopted a new Advocacy Policy on 5 April 2022, along with a suite of advocacy priorities for the federal election.
The Advocacy Policy identified key projects and initiatives that focus on:

• supporting our community to rebuild, reconnect and restart the economy;
• ensuring we are taking urgent and practical actions to mitigate the impact of climate change on our community;
• building better transport connections to make it easier to move in and around Glen Eira; and
• building a safer, healthier and more resilient community.

In response to our advocacy during the federal election campaign we successfully secured over $17 million in funding commitments from the new Labor Government, including:

• $15 million for the redevelopment of the Carnegie Memorial Swimming Pool;
• $416,000 for LED lighting at Murrumbeena Park; and
• $1.53 million for a Cycling Pavilion at Packer Park.

Across the financial year Council received funding of $32 million, comprising $10 million for capital works projects and $22 million for services.

For more information see our advocacy priorities.

As part of our commitments to achieve zero net corporate emissions by 2025, zero net community emissions by 2030 and protect our community from the worst impacts of climate change, we progressed a range of initiatives. This included developing the Climate Conversations program, where community members were trained to facilitate conversations with their friends, family and wider community to motivate them to take action on climate change; requiring all new Council infrastructure projects to incorporate Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles in their design and delivery; and adopting the Glen Eira Integrated Water Management Plan | Dhumbali W’urneet Gadhaba, which outlines Council’s approach to water management and the specific actions we will take to manage water in our environment (For more information, see Key projects and activities.)

We added a weekly green bin collection, supporting Glen Eira residents to increase the amount of waste being recycled or composted to 64 percent. In 2021–22, the total amount of waste sent to landfill decreased by 27 per cent compared to 2020–21. To continue managing waste and resources more sustainably, we commenced the development of a Circular Economy Plan. This Plan will outline how we will lead by example and create opportunities for a circular way of living, keeping materials in use for longer, reducing waste and regenerating our natural systems.

We also continued to focus on opportunities to decrease our carbon emissions by participating in the Victorian Energy Collaboration (VECO), the largest emissions reduction project ever undertaken by Australian local governments. Under this program, Glen Eira and 47 other councils are now powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity, including libraries, leisure centres and electric vehicles.

As part of our Community Grants Program, we provided $370,929 (91 grants) to 86 local not-for-profit community groups and organisations to encourage community strengthening and inclusion.

We supported 56 clubs as they resumed community sport in line with the Victorian Government COVID-19 directives and provided more than 61,000 hours of support to more than 2,400 elderly, frail or disabled residents in their homes. We also provided 490 social support activities to residents. Glen Eira Leisure, which includes GESAC, Caulfield Recreation Centre and Carnegie Swim Centre, hosted more than 530,000 visitors.

We established our first Business and Economy Advisory Committee and held the first meeting in March 2022. The Committee comprises of local business representatives who will provide us with advice in relation to business and economic planning.

Over the course of the year, regular webinars and e-newsletters were promoted and circulated to local businesses. These webinars and e-newsletters provided links for business advice and support from Council and the State Government. We continued to promote smaller activity centres by featuring them in our publications.

We received funding ($250,000) through the State Government’s Local Council Outdoor Dining and Entertainment Funding Package to install 20 parklets in our activity centres until March 2023. Further funding ($500,000) from the State Government enabled us to convert the Godfrey Street, Bentleigh car park into the Bentleigh Urban Living Space. These initiatives help bring residents and visitors back to local shopping centres.

We also secured funding ($180,000) through the State Government’s Concierge Program to recruit two COVID-19 Business Support Officers to assist businesses implement COVID-19 safe plans and manage restrictions imposed by the State Government.

For more information see COVID-19 response and recovery overview.

We invested $54.54 million in community infrastructure and facilities. The capital works program comprised 50 per cent renewal and upgrade of existing assets, six per cent expansion and 44 per cent on new assets.

Our 2021–22 operating position was $14.23 million, which is $3.18 million higher than our 2021–2022 Budget. A factor that contributed to this was the early receipt of grant funding of $3.27 million.

For more information see Financial sustainability.

Glen Eira’s nine elected Councillors held office until 29 March 2022 when Neil Pilling resigned. The Victorian Electoral Commission conducted a recount to appoint Sue Pennicuik into the Rosstown Ward vacancy on 28 April 2022. The new Glen Eira Council Plan 2021–2025 – our overarching strategic plan outlining the outcomes we seek to achieve over the next four years – was endorsed at a Special Council Meeting on 26 October 2021. We also finalised Council’s first strategic workforce plan – Glen Eira City Council Strategic Workforce Plan 2021–2025 in December 2021. The Plan was developed in line with amendments to the Local Government Act 2020 and identifies specific workforce-related activities to support and guide our workforce strategy in support of the implementation of the Glen Eira Council Plan 2021–2025 and Glen Eira Together — Our Organisational Plan.

With COVID-19 impacting face-to-face services, we continued to enhance our online service offerings.

We worked with Snap Send Solve to deliver a suite of improvements and enhanced our online customer forms to make it easier for the community to transact with us and lodge requests.

The GEL Anywhere platform enabled community members to access Glen Eira Leisure programming, providing access for users to train from home and access pre-recorded material such as GEL Bites.

The Glen Eira@Home arts and culture program was introduced to support our community during the COVID-19 restrictions. We offered live-streaming of all ‘in-person’ events such as the 2021 Storytelling Festival, Carols in the Park, International Women’s Day and National Reconciliation Week, allowing the community to enjoy the arts from their homes. Over the 2021 September school holidays, a range of fun and free stay-at-home activities were introduced with 60 online programs scheduled during this period. Many programs and events were available on-demand for access at any time, along with a number of ‘live’ viewing online programs and events.
The annual online programming included DIY art and craft sessions, dance workshops, art and history in-conversations and talks and musical performances from local Glen Eira musicians and performers. Many programs had a strong focus on combining the arts with positive mental health and included a range of wellness programs, art and music healing discussions and mindful meditation.

As well as being a service provider, we are also one of Glen Eira’s largest employers. We continued to invest in development, leadership and wellbeing programs for our staff. A total of 92 individual staff members and nine teams were recognised at our annual awards ceremony for the work they contributed to the organisation above and beyond the normal expectations of their role.

Voluntary staff turnover was 17.93 per cent, which includes turnover in our casual workforce. Staff turnover excluding casuals was 16.97 per cent. We have an overall employee engagement score of 64 per cent, which is in the mid quartile of the Local Government benchmark.

Two major structural changes impacted the workforce this year. The first was the introduction of a new business unit – Communications, Engagement and Advocacy which centralised and consolidated Council’s communications, engagement and advocacy functions. This supported a key action under the Council Plan 2021–2025, aimed at improving the effectiveness of Council’s communications, community engagement and advocacy activities.

The other major structural change resulted in a number of changes to organisational structure and reporting lines to ensure the structure remains fit for purpose and sufficiently agile to meet the challenges of the evolving work program outlined in the Council Plan 2021–2025. The changes commencing in July 2022 include:

• revision of the departments that make up the Corporate Services Directorate to include Corporate Performance and People and Culture;
• repositioning of the Climate and Sustainability and the Projects and Infrastructure units to form the Sustainability and Infrastructure Department; and
• formation of a new Customer and Community Experience Directorate to include Transformation, Customer Experience and Councillor Business and Communications Engagement and Advocacy.

On 16 March 2020, the State Government declared a State of Emergency in Victoria due to the serious risk to public health posed by COVID-19. The Minister for Health continued to extend this declaration into 2021, continually shutting down some of our key services and facilities. We continued to limit staff face-to-face contact and postpone non-essential services, major works and events. We also reopened and closed key facilities, including the Service Centre at Town Hall, Glen Eira Leisure, Glen Eira Libraries and the Youth Centre.

The two-week government-mandated shutdown in the construction industry in September 2021 resulted in labour and material shortages. These shortages have impacted on the delivery of a number of projects, such as the Bentleigh Library and Youth Hub and the Murrumbeena Community Hub. The Bentleigh Library and Youth Hub is expected to be completed in early September 2022. The pop-up library in McKinnon has been extended to ensure the community has access to a library service. The Murrumbeena Community Hub is expected to be completed by September 2022.

Earlier this year, a member of the community submitted a Victorian Heritage Register nomination for the Carnegie Memorial Swimming Pool. The Heritage Council conducted a hearing on 17 May 2022 and a decision will be made within 90 days of the hearing. If the decision is favourable, a tender will be advertised for a suitable builder with a view to awarding the contract to begin construction by late 2022.

Council has committed to spending $26.9 million in acquiring new open space by 2025. We are focused on proactively acquiring, developing and unlocking public open spaces and places for our residents. We will advocate to all levels of government to contribute towards developing open spaces.

After two phases of community consultation on the draft Housing Strategy, we will review all community feedback and have the final Housing Strategy ready for Council to adopt in late 2022. The Strategy will provide us with long-term strategic direction to meet the varied housing needs of our current and future residents.

We made an ongoing annual budget commitment to implement cycling improvements in accordance with the Integrated Transport Strategy 2018 and the Cycling Action Plan 2019. The vision is for a 50:50 mode share of car and non-car trips by 2031. Our focus will be on improving cycling infrastructure around the municipality, enabling cycling to become a safe and attractive form of transport for people of all ages and abilities.

While it has been another challenging year for Glen Eira and Victoria, we are proud of what our staff and Councillors have been able to achieve working in partnership with our community. We would like to acknowledge and thank them for their dedication and commitment to ensuring the community has remained front of mind — despite the challenges presented in these uncertain times. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with our community in the coming year as we rebuild our financial sustainability and support them in their recovery to ensure Glen Eira remains a vibrant City of opportunity, where everyone belongs.