We attended the Lilydale Street Fair & Festival today, the weather wasn't kind but didn't dampen the enthusiasm or enjoyment!

This annual community event celebrates residents and showcases all that the town has to offer as the ‘Gateway to the Yarra Valley'

There were market stalls with locally made handicrafts & locally grown produce, a variety of performances by local talents, vocalists, musicians, dancers, and entertainers and a family zone with children’s activities, entertainers, and animals!

We encouraged community members to tell us their thoughts about projects currently open for Community Consultation including the Housing Strategy, Upper Yarra Local Development Strategy and Aquatics and Leisure Strategy. With the end of year just around the corner we have our annual Christmas Window Competition back, so we were encouraging the festive spirit and showing people how to vote for your favourite display!

We had officers from Community Engagement, the Housing Strategy and the Aquatics & Leisure Strategy join us today.

Both of these projects are now coming to the end of their community consultation period. We have had some great conversation during this time and really enjoyed having the team join us in these roadshows. Despite the weather, we heard from over 80 people - Lilydale locals, other residents from Yarra Ranges and visitors to the street fair.

• Mixed feelings about the FOGO bins and changes to how our rubbish is collected.
• Housing affordability is a subject which is of high concern to many of you - both renting and buying a home.
• Lilydale gets really congested at times - you feel that changes created with the Level Crossing removal has worsened the problem.
• You are keen to hear more about a proposed aquatic facility that has been outlined in the Aquatic & Leisure Strategy.