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Community engagement is one of many inputs we use as a customer-focused organisation that help us design and deliver services, policies and plans that are responsive to the changing needs of the Bayside community. Engaging our community is part of Council’s core business and something all service areas will need to do at different times.

Our Community Engagement Policy outlines our commitments for how we’ll genuinely include our community in decision making, and how Council will:

  • plan and deliver community engagement that is appropriate to the scope and impact of decision(s) being made
  • communicate openly and consider all views
  • support community members to contribute to the Council plans and projects which are relevant to them
  • keep participants informed about projects they have contributed to and how and why decisions have been made.

Our Community Engagement Policy is a Local Government Act requirement and due for renewal.

  • Policy must meet Local Government Act principles

    Community engagement must have:

    • Defined objective and scope
    • Access to information for participants
    • Representative participants
    • Support for meaningful engagement
    • Clear influence on decision making
    • Equity and fairness
    • Deliberative practices (major strategic plans).
  • and meet community and Council needs

    • Clarify when, why and how we’ll engage with our community and stakeholders
    • Strengthen trust and confidence in evidence-based decision making
    • Consistent application of transparent, accessible engagement processes.
  • More support

    Through workshops with staff we heard there were:

    • Different levels of experience, confidence, interest, and capacity to undertake community engagement
    • Calls for more support, guidance and step by step resources
    • Need to update and expand intranet engagement hub
    • Desire to better use engagement data across projects.


    We've developed a new engagement toolkit, series of templates and simple how-to guides, which will land on the intranet in April.

There's a few ways to provide your feedback:

  • Super quick survey focussed on key Policy updates (below)
  • Deep dive review to provide more thorough feedback on the whole Policy (below)
  • Join us at the Corporate Centre for free coffee! Wednesday 12 March 8:30am - 10am
  • Drop by the Comms & Engagement pods for a chat on Monday 17 March 11am - 12:30pm
  • Get in touch via the contact details at the end of this page.


This phase of internal consultation closes 5pm Friday 21 March (so we can finalise the draft Policy for Council's consideration in April)

Super quick survey

Deep dive review

  • Timeline item 1 - complete

    February 2021

    Current Community and Stakeholder Engagement Policy adopted by Council in response to changes to the Local Government Act 2020.

  • Timeline item 2 - complete

    Mid 2023

    Staff workshops and engagement resource review.

    Read what we learned.

  • Timeline item 3 - complete

    March - April 2024

    Community Satisfaction Survey 2024 includes engagement activities.

    Read the results.

  • Timeline item 4 - complete

    June – August 2024

    Executive team and senior leaders considered current Policy and recommended changes.

    Engagement team joined department meetings across the organisation to gather detailed feedback.

  • Timeline item 5 - complete

    September - November 2024

    Equity Impact Assessment and revised draft Community Engagement Policy and internal resources developed.

  • Timeline item 6 - active

    March 2025

    Internal engagement on draft Policy

  • Timeline item 7 - incomplete

    April 2025

    1 April: Council briefing

    27 April: Council endorsement for community engagement on draft Policy

  • Timeline item 8 - incomplete

    May 2025

    Community engagement on draft Policy

    Roll out new internal resources.

  • Timeline item 9 - incomplete

    July 2025

    Revised Community Engagement Policy expected to be adopted by Council.

Vanessa Bradley

Community Engagement Coordinator

vbradley@bayside.vic.gov.au

9599 4801

Joanne Hyland

Engagement & Communications Officer

jhyland@bayside.vic.gov.au

9599 4314

Karly Hocking

Community Communications Officer

Part time - Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

khocking@bayside.vic.gov.au

9599 4868

Tracy Hocking

Communications & Engagement Officer

Part time - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

thocking@bayside.vic.gov.au

What is community engagement?

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Contact us

yoursay@bayside.vic.gov.au

(03) 9599 4444

www.bayside.vic.gov.au

Bayside City Council, 76 Royal Avenue

PO Box 27, Sandringham VIC 3191

For general enquiries to Bayside Council

bayside.vic.gov.au/contact-us

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