Your council at work

Bayside’s Annual Report is available for you to read.

The report gives a comprehensive breakdown of the operations of council in the past financial year, reflecting 12 months of hard work, resilience and community care.

The impact of the pandemic has been felt across our community and Council has been working hard to support Bayside residents, traders and community groups struggling to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and the resultant closures and restrictions.

It has been a year not just of challenges, however, but of achievements.

The Bayside Local Economy Recovery and Reactivation Plan included the installation of outdoor dining “spacelets”, and campaigns such as Rediscover Bayside, Shop Local and Christmas in Bayside demonstrated Council’s commitment to local traders.

Council has delivered a record $32.9 million capital works program. The completion of our new, now renowned, Thomas Street Reserve regional inclusive playground was a major highlight.

Our commitment to open space in Bayside is reflected in the construction of Phase 1 of the Elsternwick Park Nature Reserve is well underway.

We have introduced mandatory height controls for Small Neighbourhood Activity Centre, subject to the Minister’s final approval and adopted the Affordable Housing Strategy to improve not only affordability but diversity of housing.

On transport, we worked closely with the Level Crossing Removal Authority to deliver the Cheltenham station, provided bicycle parking in public locations such as libraries and sports club and developed a network of well-connected bicycle routes.

Bayside continues to lead the way on acting on the Climate Emergency achieving 9 per cent reduction of total Council greenhouse gas emissions and verified carbon neutral status.

We have introduced initiatives to reduce water consumption in Council’s operations and improve stormwater quality to the Bay and our new Local Law bans smoking on all Bayside beaches and Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary.

Council is committed to transparent reporting and accountability to the community. For more detail on the work done by your council in the past year read the Annual Report here