The City of Sydney is seeking feedback on proposed major regulatory changes to support businesses in establishing open dining spaces.
Approved by the council in December, the proposals aim to reduce unnecessary red tape for businesses seeking to establish outdoor dining areas and to offer the option of making temporary on-street dining spaces permanent, where appropriate, across the city.
The proposed outdoor dining guidelines will be open for public comment from January 12 to March 12.
“When the pandemic hit, we allowed businesses to set up dining areas on the road, with patrons protected by safe but unattractive concrete barriers. We want to remove those barriers and build beautiful, permanent spaces that will change not just the face of our city but how we experience it,” said Clover Moore AO, lord mayor of Sydney.
She said the initiatives have been a ‘lifeline’ and ‘incredibly popular’ for businesses during the pandemic, with the fee removal last year contributing to changes in Sydney’s streetscape.
The main proposals include:
- Establishing a process to turn the on-street areas currently bordered by concrete barriers into permanent footpath extensions, where suitable.
- Providing a more certain and effective clear path of travel on the footpath for all users.
- Allowing businesses to set up outside adjacent properties, following consultation.
- Allowing dining on both sides of the clear path, against a building and curb, if space permits.
- Making the approval process easier and quicker by reducing the need for notification and removing duplicate application processes.
- Removing red tape, such as rules that prevent standing without a table or shelf, or additional requirements for food, toilets, and heaters.
- Increasing flexibility to place planter boxes and large pots for greening in these areas.
- Increasing business certainty with five-year approvals, where possible.
Moore emphasised that a clear and reliable pathway will maximise the available space for businesses while maintaining full accessibility for people with disabilities, parents with prams, and those with limited mobility.
“Building access ramps and steps, along with permanent utilities infrastructure and display of goods, often means the intended clear pathway along the building line simply doesn’t exist,” said the lord mayor.
“We are instead proposing to make sure our accessible paths are kept free from obstructions.
“Since 2020, when we began offering public footpath and roadway space to businesses free of charge, we have approved nearly 1000 applications, creating an estimated 13,000sqm of new space on roads and footpaths, supporting more than 860 businesses. The total value of support we have given businesses by waiving footpath and on-street outdoor dining fees since November 2020 is around $20 million.”
Alfredo Perez from Wings and Tins, La Farmacia, and Mrs Palmer’s Sandwich has welcomed the proposals, saying the changes are a ‘positive step’ that create a more lively street atmosphere, directly support higher turnover, and help hospitality businesses remain viable.
