Rubbish, graffiti, parking: See the top issues in Melbourne’s north

From rubbish, to graffiti to potholes, take a look at the top issues that frustrated residents across Melbourne’s north in the last year.

Graffiti, rubbish and parking are among the biggest frustrations that residents in Melbourne’s north want solved in their neighbourhood, data has revealed.

The people of Melbourne’s north sent out 26,000 requests in 2022 to their local councils of Darebin, Banyule, Whittlesea and Nillumbik, to fix their ratepayer gripes.

The reports were made via the Snap Send Solve app – which allows people to take photos of public property that needs fixing and send it to the appropriate authority within 30 seconds.

The top categories for issues in Melbourne’s north overall matched the biggest problems statewide, with 25 per cent of reports from last year being rubbish related.

Potholes were a common issue in 2022 due to heavy rainfall, coming in at a close second to street gutters and storm water problems in the Roads and Signage category.

Across the state, data from January to October revealed 43,456 reports were made statewide about rubbish and dumping, making it the largest issue by far.

According to Snap Send Solve chief executive Danny Grog, reports made through the app have grown dramatically over the past two years, which he attributes to residents becoming more engaged in their area throughout the pandemic.

“What we’ve found is throughout the lockdowns and 5km restrictions, people became more conscious about the area they’re in,” he said.

“There’s been an increase in reports made about the most obvious issues, like rubbish, vandalism and safety issues, as residents want to take pride in their suburbs.”

According to a council spokesperson, Whittlesea council received more than 11,500 Snap Send Solve requests in 2022, a 22 per cent increase on the previous year.

When looking at individual council areas, the Nillumbik Shire area stands out as differing from the rest of the north in it’s top issue.

While Whittlesea, Darebin and Banyule had the same top issue as Victoria overall, Nillumbik residents reported more graffiti than any other problem.

Ranking high on all of the council lists of reported issues in 2022 were parking, parks and footpaths also.

Mr Gorog said across Victoria, reports on dumped rubbish had risen by about 60 per cent since 2021, while vandalism had more than doubled.

“We know that 74 per cent of people notice issues in their community but only 31 per cent actually report them,” he said.

“Councils and other agencies like public transport, power companies and telcos rely on locals because they can’t be everywhere at once. The faster an issue is reported the faster it can be fixed.”