Year in pictures

Our arts grant programs provided 13 grants – totalling $100,268 – for community projects.

Our recently redeveloped Brunswick Town Hall precinct won the Civic Landscape Award of Excellence at the Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Victoria 2020 Awards.

We had a range of programs to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Love Merri-bek Buy Local campaign encouraged the community to buy their goods and services locally.

We acquired 3 sites for the A Park Close to Home program, to provide more open space for our community. These were on Sydney Road opposite Brunswick Town Hall, Cardinal Road in Glenroy and Service Street in Coburg. New parks at Tinning Street and West Street began construction.

Our vital Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Service celebrated its centenary. No matter who you are or whatever your circumstances, the MCH service is there for your new family.

We expanded the Counihan Gallery in Brunswick. This increased its profile, exhibition space and opportunities for the arts.

We celebrated International Women’s Day in 2020 at Brunswick Library. We honoured women's contribution to the local community and produced a podcast from the event.

Our Brunswick Music Festival is now recognised as one of Victoria’s premier music festivals. Sydney Road Street Party, which kicks the festival off, is the largest event in our calendar. It attracted 50,000 people in March 2020. Unfortunately, the second week of the festival was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Our streetscape renewal achieved more success. We completed Fawkner’s Bonwick Street upgrade. Work began for Pascoe Vale’s Gaffney Village project and the Russell Street upgrade in Coburg.

We are committed to supporting our older residents to live and age well. And to remain living at home for as long as possible. We accepted funding extensions for the Regional Assessment Service and Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP). We will continue to deliver CHSP services to at least 30 June 2022.

Level crossings are on track to be removed in Merri-bek. This follows several years of campaigning by councillors and the community.

Take up of our Design Excellence Scorecard continued to grow. Five developments have achieved the scorecard benchmarks.

We encouraged children and adults to play outdoor more. During the year, we upgraded 7 playgrounds, including Raeburn Reserve, Pascoe Vale (pictured).

Our staff supported the emergency response to the summer bushfires. They supported evacuees from Mallacoota at the emergency relief centre in Melbourne. Others travelled to Wodonga to help the recovery effort in Towong Shire.

We adopted a planning scheme amendment to increase the size of trees planted in new developments. This will help shade and cool our streets.