At Yarra we are always better together. That’s why this draft Council Plan has been created after extensive feedback from the community.

We started this consultation process in October last year when we received feedback on your priorities and needs to be reflected in the new Plan. Almost 2,000 residents, business owners and visitors told us their thoughts, including 140 of our youngest residents – the children who call Yarra home!

What feedback did we receive?

Our community told us the following areas for investment and priority are important to them.

2036 Community Vision

We asked community members the extent to which our Community Vision reflects the community’s vision for the next 11 years:

• 43% Strongly agree/agree
• 18% Strongly disagree
• 15% Don't know/can't say

The valuable insights we gained from the first stage of community consultation were presented to our community working group made up of 45 randomly selected members of Yarra’s diverse community. The community working group came together over four workshops throughout January and February 2025 as part of our deliberative engagement process, to help refine the priority areas of the new Council Plan.

The group were also asked to reflect on our Community Vision to ensure it met the current needs and aspirations of our community. This will flow into our review of the Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan, Community Infrastructure Plan, 10-year Asset Plan and Long-Term Financial Plan.

You can learn more about the process from the video below:

Since we finished our deliberative engagement sessions, Councillors have been hard at work reviewing the community priorities and coming up with a series of objectives and actions that could help address the aspirations of our community. These objectives aim to balance Council’s need to accommodate our existing, growing and changing population while remaining a financially sustainable organisation.

The draft Council Plan, Community Vision Reflection and Update and Long-Term Financial Plan are now available for community feedback until 5pm on Friday 23 May 2025. You can read the draft documents and provide feedback using this link.

We have also used the feedback we received last year to help inform our 25/26 draft Budget. This is also available for community feedback until 5pm on Friday 23 May 2025. You can view the document, learn more about the highlight projects and provide feedback using this link.

Extraordinary Council Meeting - Tuesday 3 June

Council will consider all feedback received through these consultations at the Extraordinary Council Meeting at 6.30pm on Tuesday 3 June. This meeting will be the opportunity for community members to speak to the feedback they provided as part of the consultation.

If you would like to speak to your feedback, we encourage you to select “I would like to be contacted about speaking to my feedback at the Extraordinary Council Meeting at 6.30pm on Tuesday 3 June 2025” when you complete the online survey.

If you select this option, we will contact you via email closer to the date of this meeting to notify you of the opportunity to speak to your feedback and explain the registration process for the meeting.

The Extraordinary Council Meeting will be your last chance to provide feedback on these draft documents before they are considered for adoption on Tuesday 17 June 2025.