These insights were shared with us as part of our 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey, an annual survey conducted on behalf of many councils in Victoria. Four hundred randomly selected residents were surveyed by an independent research company and provided their insights about what we’re doing well and how we can improve.

The results show Glen Eira continues to perform well above the state average, and we’re on par with other metropolitan councils.

Our top performing areas remain the same as previous years — arts centres and libraries, recreational facilities, appearance of public areas and waste management.

This is also consistent with what we’ve heard from engagement campaigns like Our Place, Our Plan earlier this year, so we know that these areas are top priorities for the community.

High level of trust

We heard our community has a high level of trust in us and this trust continues to grow, with 59 per cent saying that we are ‘very trustworthy’ or ‘trustworthy’ — an increase of four per cent from last year. We added this question to the survey because trust is something we highly value and want to keep building with our community. It’s great to see this increase which suggests we are heading in the right direction.

Other areas that we received strong feedback for was our willingness to listen and respond to concerns, environmental sustainability and customer service — which is well above the state average.

Like other metropolitan councils, our ratings were lowest in areas like population growth, planning and building permits. There’s significant change happening at the state level in this area, with the Victorian Government taking over more planning decisions. We know this is causing concern for our community and we’ll continue to advocate to the Victorian Government to ensure new developments balance inevitable growth with neighbourhood character. We’ll also keep our community informed about community consultation opportunities, so their voices are heard.

Other areas we saw decreases in were the conditions of our roads and community safety.

We know that the condition of our roads is very important to our community and this feedback will inform our future plans in this area as we keep investing in our road network.

Safety

Perceptions of safety reflect the impact of global events on our local community and we’re taking action to address it through initiatives like our social cohesion taskforce. We’ll continue to listen to feedback and ideas to ensure Glen Eira is a safe, welcoming and inclusive place to live.

This Survey is a valuable piece of the puzzle that informs our projects, decisions and actions for the coming year — and it’s one of the many ways we seek feedback to understand community priorities, aspirations and expectations.

This year alone we’ve heard from more than 3,200 residents through 18 engagement campaigns, including through Our Place, Our Plan — our most significant campaign to date, which is helping us to plan for the next four years.

You can read the full Survey Report on our Community satisfaction survey page.