Thank you to everyone who participated in the Creating a Safer Community engagement.

We invited the community to share their thoughts, experiences and suggestions on community safety.

We asked how safe you felt in your neighbourhood and in the city centre and for your suggestions to improve safety in the community. The feedback we received will allow Council to better understand specific areas of concern and develop a new Community Safety Plan that focuses on the current safety needs of the community, and safer public spaces.

Engagement Participation Numbers

Between 25 November 2024 and 2 February 2025, we had:

1900 visits to the website

350 surveys completed

119 face-to-face conversations

We also heard from 64 young people at workshops and had a 63, 862 reach on social media!

Here is some of what we heard from the community:

• People feel less safe in their neighbourhoods and in the Wollongong Central Business District (CBD) at night compared to the day
• Train stations and bus stops, and local parks are identified as the areas where people feel most unsafe in their neighbourhoods
• Wollongong Train Station, and Crown St (heading towards the hospital) are identified as the areas where people feel most unsafe in the Wollongong CBD
• Physical and /or verbal assault and aggression is the greatest crime concern for most people
• Drugs and drug affected people, violence and lack of police presence are the three factors that most impact people’s personal feeling of safety
• 35% of respondents had experienced or witnessed a crime in the last 12 months
• People are underreporting crime, with only 46% reporting incidents to police
• The primary reasons provided for not reporting the crime included lack of trust or confidence in police and processes; not recognising the value in reporting and the belief that reporting wasn’t required
• Social media is the primary source of safety information for people.

Many suggestions and ideas were received to improve community safety, these have been broadly categorised as follows:

• Improved lighting and surveillance
• Increased police and security presence
• Addressing homelessness and drug issues
• Public space activation and maintenance
• Traffic and pedestrian safety
• Stronger community engagement, education and reporting.

We also received many location or area specific concerns that have a been separately collated and will be reviewed.

Next steps

Feedback from the community received during this engagement will assist the development of the Community Safety Plan 2026-2030. Your feedback is important and is one factor of the decision-making process for Council. There are a whole range of things that are important in how we make a decision. The graphic shows some of the factors we consider in our decision making:

Additional engagement will take place in the coming months for targeted key internal and external stakeholders

The draft Community Safety Plan 2026-2030 will be written and placed on public exhibition in late 2025. Keep an eye on the Our Wollongong page for project updates

Tell us how we did

We’d love to know what you thought about your experience when you engaged with us. Tell us how we did by completing this quick survey.

You can also email us at engagement@wollongong.nsw.gov.au or call 4227 7111.