Neighbourhood disputes are becoming more common in Melton and Moorabool, with residents typically arguing over fences, trees and bad behaviour.
New data from the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV) show calls for help in Melton increased to 339 last financial year, up from 323 in 2011-12.
Calls from Moorabool went up from 41 in 2011-12 to 60 last year.
Across the state, about 20,000 people called the DSCV for advice last financial year.
Melton council’s acting compliance manager, John Russell said while some complaints, such as fence disputes, were out of the council’s jurisdiction, officers could act in some instances.
“Council … has the capacity to deal with complaints such as loud music, barking dogs, certain aspects of living conditions and some types of drainage issues,” he said.
“The behaviour of people in terms of violence and vandalism are often brought to council’s attention, but the complainants are referred back to the police. While any number of disputes is too many, in a rapidly growing municipality such as Melton, causative effects for complaints might be expected to increase from time to time.”
DSCV director Gina Ralston said the increase in calls was a sign residents wanted issues dealt with quickly.
“This shows that more people are seeking help at an early stage, which will hopefully prevent smaller disputes from escalating to more complex ones,” she said.
