Community engagement

Thank you to everyone who took part in engagement activities from October - November 2024

We received excellent feedback, with 91 contributions from people through an online survey. View the full findings report or take a look at the 'What we heard' highlights below.

What we heard

  • Healthy waterways and wetlands

    75% of participants selected healthy waterways and wetlands as their number one concern.

  • Biodiversity is core to water health

    56% of participants said that a healthy and sustainable water system supports nature.

  • Strong support for the draft strategic objectives

    97% of participants support or somewhat support the draft strategic objectives in the Integrated Water Management Plan.

  • Residents want action on pollution and maintenance

    43 locations across Banyule were highlighted as needing consistent maintenance and pollution clean up, including litter traps, drains and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) infrastructure.

  • Development and water must be integrated

    There were concerns about poor development practices not supporting water-sensitive outcomes, and calls for better runoff control, more permeable surfaces, and stricter planning to protect waterways.

What's next?

We're currently refining the objectives and actions in the draft Plan, ensuring that community priorities like waterway protection and wise water use are at its core.

In early 2026, we'll be asking you to tell us whether you think the final draft Plan will do its job to protect Banyule's waterways through pollution prevention, water sensitive urban design (WSUD), better of natural systems, and collaboration with key partners like the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Melbourne Water, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and other State Government partners.

Click the '+Follow' button at the top of the page to stay up-to-date with this project and receive an email when the draft Plan is public for your feedback.

Project background

Water is central to our experience of Banyule with the Yarra River and the Darebin Creek running along our eastern, southern and western boundaries. The Plenty River and the Banyule, Salt and Karingal Yalloc Creeks flow through Banyule and along with Banyule Flats, which contains the Banyule and Warringal Swamps and Banyule Billabong, and provide significant habitat for rare birds, plants and animals.

Storm and rain water runoff carrying pollutants such as fuel, oil, garden fertilizers and sediment, however, can significantly damage these highly valued environments.

How we respond is a key priority!

We currently manage water in Banyule by reducing water use at our local ovals and our aquatic centres, installing litter traps and water sensitive urban design (wetlands, raingardens) to protect valued water ecosystems, implementing strategies to reduce local flooding and building community awareness on the value of water in our community.

Continually improving water management is crucial to improving community resilience in Banyule. It will help us adapt to a changing climate where we can expect to experience a hotter drier climate and more intense storms.

Integrated Water Management

Integrated Water Management is a collaborative approach to planning and managing the water cycle including stormwater, wastewater, surface water, groundwater and waterways to ensure Banyule becomes a water sensitive city by 2050.

This will be achieved through the development and delivery of an Integrated Water Management Plan (IWMP) with an agreed vision, strategic objectives, a 10-year action plan and targets to 2050. The IWMP will ensure that water is available to support a sustainable environment and that we can continue to enjoy all the benefits that water provides.

Key Council and Government Plans

This project aligns with key Banyule and State Government Plans, including:

Engagement and development

Engagement stages

Vision and strategic objectives

To deliver the best possible outcomes for our community, the environment, and the economy, we will engage the community, neighbouring local Councils, water corporations, community groups, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action to help us develop a vision and strategic objectives.

Using the feedback from Stage 1 community engagement, we will develop a draft Banyule Integrated Water Management Plan, which will include:

  • The final vision and strategic objectives (ensuring they are SMART goals)
  • A 10 year action plan
  • Targets for 2050
  • Opportunities / sites for water sensitive urban design infrastructure.

During this stage, the Plan will be available to the community for public comment.