Each year, Council develops an annual Budget that sets out how we invest in services and infrastructure to meet the needs of our rapidly growing community.
To help shape the 2026–27 Budget and other long-term plans, we invite community members to tell us what services and priorities matter most to them — now and for the future.
This engagement will guide several key Council documents, including the 2026–27 Budget, Community Action Plan 2026–27, and Economic Growth Strategy 2026–36.
Community feedback through the first phase of community engagement highlighted strong, consistent themes about what people value most and where they would like to see investment. You can access these and what we heard in the phase one engagement summary report.
Top five priorities
- 🚓 Community safety – lighting in public spaces, crime prevention, and local law enforcement
- 🛣️ Roads, public transport and footpaths – local road maintenance, traffic management, walking and cycling paths, and better transport options
- 👴 Ageing well services – positive ageing programs, home support, and social connection opportunities
- 🏫 Community facilities – libraries, sporting and aquatic centres, and community activity spaces
- 🧘♀️ Community wellbeing – mental health support, inclusion, connection, and cost-of-living support
- 📝 Complete the short survey below
- 🗣️ Speak to us in person at one of our community pop-up events.
Community Consultation - Phase 1
Community Priorities Phase 1
The below graph displays the results of the community priorities captured in phase 1 of the community engagement.
Who we heard from
We received feedback from a wide cross-section of our diverse community.
| 63% female, 32% male and 3% identified as non-binary |
| All age groups represented; highest participation from those aged over 65 (27%), 36–45 (21%) and 46–55 (15%) |
| Participants from 15 suburbs; strongest participation from Epping, Doreen, and Mernda |
| 367 (35%) spoke a language other than English at home |
| 163 (11%) were people with a disability or unpaid carers of a person with a disability of older person |
| 43 (4%) identified as member of the LGBTIQA+ community |
| 18 (2%) identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders |
How we engaged you
Between 1 September and 5 October 2025, Council delivered a broad and inclusive community consultation to hear from people who live, work, study or visit the City of Whittlesea.
Community engagement included both online and in-person activities to ensure everyone had a chance to participate.
Community engagement activities included:
- Engage Whittlesea platform: survey and expression of interest for future focus groups
- 26 in-person activities across the municipality, including 15 community-based pop-up stalls and 11 short survey sessions
- direct engagement with community networks, including seniors, multicultural, youth, disability, sports, business, and arts groups
We promoted the opportunity to participate through newsletters, direct emails to stakeholder, digital screen and flyers at Council facilities and through council’s, social media channels.
Reach and participation
- 1,052 people contributed feedback
- 1,075 comments collected
- 870 in-person and 182 online contributions
- 28,615 social media views and 14,955 account reach
