Council

East St Kilda / Balaclava will be the first precinct to receive the Urban Forest treatment under a bold plan to lift tree canopy from 20% to 30% by 2040.

Councillors have backed a plan to expand off-leash dog areas across Port Phillip including a major expansion of access to Elwood Beach over summer.

Repeated food handling breaches by former St Kilda trader Lux Kebabs have resulted in fines and legal costs totalling $62,524 at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

Paw pressure prevails as Councillors vote to allocate $50K for a 14-month trial of free dog waste bags at up to 12 locations. However, opinions were divided, with concerns that free bags could contribute to plastic pollution and may not reduce dog waste.

The show goes on despite a 20% budget cut. St Kilda Festival will be back in 2026 on the weekend of 14 and 15 February. Applications open for the New Music Competition this week. Pictured are last year’s winners, Velvet Bloom.

Join the race to save Albert Park Lake from a 21-day lock-out period for each Grand Prix. Have your say before the 14-day consultation period ends on 11 August and the legislation goes into Parliament later in August.

Mayor Louise Crawford provides a right of reply statement to the recent TWiSK Community Satisfaction Survey story. Her response is printed in full.

The results of Council’s annual community satisfaction survey have been published and the results are disappointing but not surprising. Our council is rated as below average on most measures by residents sampled in 900 household interviews conducted in March and April 2025. TWiSK presents the key findings.

Council is using a new survey method to measure community satisfaction. But can the latest results be fairly compared to past results? Trevor White asks the question, Can you compare a ‘pear’ with an ‘apple’?

The Victorian Fisheries Authority recently released 1,500 ‘ready to catch’ rainbow trout into Albert Park Lake under its school holiday program to encourage young anglers. Another 1,500 are planned for September. Local nature lovers are not happy.