robertjohn

My family have lived in Woodvale for over twenty five years now, and I would happily recommend it as a safe and inviting suburb for both young and established families.

Compared to nearby suburbs, Woodvale has high quality houses with well-maintained gardens and leafy streets. There is a strong sense of community a lot of the older residents have lived here for 20-30 years and wouldnt think of leaving. For younger families, the large block sizes and well built homes are being taken advantage of, with many properties undergoing well designed renovations.

The best aspect of Woodvale, in my opinion, is the abundance of parks and retained bushland which is incredibly rare in the northern suburbs. The Yellalonga National Park which takes up almost half of the suburb is in particular an amazing asset, with walking trails and a fantastic lake for dog walking / exercise / family picnics etc. A number of the streets in Woodvale Waters front onto the parklands, and have spectacular easterly views over Lake Joondalup.

The suburb is well connected, with easy access to both Edgewater & Whitford train stations, and it is right on the Mitchell Freeway (on a good day it's a 20 minute drive into the city, at worst 35 minutes). There are two decently sized shopping centres locally, and the Whitford City & Joondalup centres are ten minutes drive away. Hillarys Boat Harbour and the beach are a short 15 minutes drive.

I have never experienced any of the issues with teenagers and hoons listed in some of the other reviews below and found them very out of character with my own experience.

Moving to East Victoria Park has been an ongoing regret of mine.

What at first appears to be a cosmopolitan inner city suburb with a good selection of cafes, restaurants and bars is in fact an area filled with high crime rates and poorly maintained rental and public housing properties.

The petty crime rate is something I had not expected, and should be a serious deterent for young families or otheres considering moving to the area. During the course of the four years I have lived here, my car has been broken into on a monthly basis, including one occasion where a large rock was thrown through the passenger window of the car in the middle of the afternoon. I have also come home to find the rear door of my property had been tampered with in an attempted break in - despite reporting to the police, little follow occured.
Perhaps more concerningly, the neighbour to the rear of my property (who I have since learned is a public housing tenant) has been involved in some serious criminal incidents during my stay here. A domestic incident one morning resulted in the police being called. On a separate occasion, a number of police vehicles attended the property for more than five hours.
With a high number of rental properties, there is a lack of maintenance of properties. Verges are overgrown with weeds, rarely mowed and often have multiple cars parked on them. Bulk rubbish weekends in particular brings out the worst side of the suburb - domestic waste is strewn across the street weeks before the allocated pick up week. At other times of the year, mattresses and bulk waste are illegally dumped in parklands and beside the street. I have reported this to the council, and thankfully they have been prompt in removing the waste, but it still doesnt inspire confidence.

Whilst there is no doubt the Albany Highway strip is a highlight, the crime and homeless population of the area is still evident. I have been approached in the carpark of the Park Centre by an aggressive beggar who followed me to my car - again reported to the shopping centre operators but not an isolated incident.