Thank you to everyone who participated in community engagement activities last year to provide feedback on the proposed Local Law.
The final document was adopted by Council on Monday 3 March 2025. To view a recording of the meeting and take a look at the meeting minutes, go to Council's website. This project was Items 3.6 on the agenda.
The Local Law
Local Laws are created with the community in mind. They deal with current and emerging issues and needs, and help people to understand their rights and responsibilities. Local Laws allow Council to respond to local matters to protect public and private space and the community’s health and safety.
Council has a legislative obligation under the Local Government Act 2020 to review its Local Law every 10 years to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the community and addresses any new or emerging issues.
The current Local Law is set to expire in April 2025 and will not be valid or enforceable after this date. A new Local Law has been developed and will be known as the Community Local Law 2025.
View the Community Impact Statement to learn more about the proposed Local Law and understand the changes that Council is proposing.
- protect community safety and neighbourhood amenity
- protect our environment
- improve access and enjoyment of public open spaces for the community
- provide good governance, accountability and enforcement for any breaches of the Local Law.
- your property or business
- your animals
- fire safety
- building and asset protection
- vehicles and roads
- footpath trading
- naturestrips
- Council buildings and occupation of Council land
- Municipal places and reserves
- alcohol and smoking
- permits, administration and enforcement.
Community engagement
What we did
Engagement with Council staff
To help develop of the proposed Local Law, Council has undertaken extensive internal consultation with various Council departments. The primary purpose was to understand how the proposed Local Law could address municipal changes, regulatory concerns and emerging issues.
In the proposed Local Law we have also:
- updated legislative references
- made administrative changes, removed pronouns and created a more accessible document.
Engagement with the community
From July to August 2024, we asked the community to to give us feedback on the Local Law.
386 people provided feedback through an online survey, hardcopy surveys (mailed to 2,000 randomly selected households in Banyule, and made available at Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub and Greensborough Customer Service Centre), feedback posted directly to the project team and at in-person/online community workshops.
View the full findings report or take a look at a summary of what we heard below.
What we heard
Click on the section of interest to view feedback received from the community during engagement activities.
- Strong support for stricter controls on building sites to protect residential amenity and the local environment.
- Calls for a ban on construction work during all public holidays.
- Concerns about noise, public safety, asset damage, and environmental impacts.
- Mixed views on new shopping trolley provisions.
- Strong support for holding retailers accountable for abandoned trolleys.
- Concerns about potential inconvenience of coin deposit systems.
- Community sought flexibility for retailers to choose an appropriate trolley locking mechanism.
- Widespread support for smoke-free public areas, especially parks, gardens, and sports fields.
- Strong agreement on the importance of public health protections.
- Some believe existing laws are sufficient, but the majority support stricter regulations.
- Positive feedback for nature strip planting in line with the Urban Forest Strategy.
- Support for guidelines to balance environmental benefits with safety and accessibility.
- Strong agreement with the ban on feeding birds in public areas to prevent overpopulation and environmental damage.
- Some support for longer grass to aid biodiversity, but concerns over maintenance challenges.
- Strong community backing for enforcing property maintenance standards to address overgrown grass, hedges and neglect.
- Minor wording change proposed: replacing “grass” with “lawn” to better define maintenance requirements.
- Strong support for requiring secure property fencing to prevent animals from escaping.
- General support for higher penalties to deter non-compliance with local laws.
- Agreement that businesses should face stricter penalties than individuals.
- Mixed views on increasing individual penalties, with concerns about financial impact on residents.
Key changes to the Local Law as a result of your feedback
Building Site Regulations: enhanced draft provisions will give officers stronger enforcement abilities.
Shopping Trolley Management: wording clarified to allow retailers flexibility in choosing a trolley control system.
Smoke-Free Public Areas: the new provisions will create cleaner, healthier environments.
Nature Strip Planting: Council will develop clear guidelines to support community-led nature strip enhancements.
Lawn Maintenance: revised wording in local laws to distinguish between “lawn” and native grasses.
Fire Pit Regulations: updated terminology and wording to align with fire service legislation.
Shipping Containers: no new local law changes, as existing regulations are deemed sufficient.
Illegal Dumping: enforcement will continue under the Environment Protection Act 2017, with stronger penalties than local laws can impose.
These changes reflect the community's priorities and ensure a balanced approach to maintaining public safety, environmental protection and amenity. The Local Law is comprehensive and in some parts is ‘uniquely’ Banyule.
