City of Melbourne reintroduces outdoor dining fees in unanimous vote

The City of Melbourne has reintroduced fees for outdoor dining areas set up by restaurants during the pandemic, despite some CBD hospitality businesses objecting to the plan.

On Tuesday night, councillors voted unanimously to pass a recommendation from council management to reintroduce fees from November for outdoor dining permits across the municipality except in Docklands.

The Melbourne city council has voted to reintroduce fees for outdoor dining.Credit:Eddie Jim

Hundreds of businesses signed up for free permits to establish outdoor dining on footpaths, in laneways and on street-side car parks after the council began waiving fees in late 2020 as part of its plan to reinvigorate the city after the first COVID-19 lockdown.

Cr Roshena Campbell moved the motion and said the council had waived outdoor dining fees for businesses during the pandemic as indoor density limits had severely hampered the city’s hospitality trade, but “those COVID shackles are now off”.

Campbell pointed to increased CBD foot traffic and spending and more hospitality businesses opening as evidence the city was recovering. She said the new fees were designed to take into account businesses that had returned to pre-pandemic trade.

Dining permit fees for parking spaces – also called parklets – that cost about $8000 each in the CBD would be gradually reintroduced with a 50 per cent discount until July 2023. This, Campbell said, took into consideration that foot traffic during weekdays had not bounced back as strongly.

To operate a parklet in the CBD area, businesses will now be charged $278 per square metre, per annum.

Docklands was also excluded from the fee reintroduction as it has not recovered as quickly as other areas, she said.

The new fees will also introduce a payment plan to allow for hardship requests from businesses.

Some restaurateurs had questioned the timing of the fee reintroduction.

Jessi Singh, owner of CBD restaurant Daughter In Law, said on Thursday that it was “the worst time” to face a fee of about $12,000 to keep the three parklets outside his venue.

Jessi Singh outside Daughter in Law last week.Credit: Simon Schluter

He said he understood that the council needed to reintroduce the fees at some point, but believed they could have waited until the busy summer period passed.

Cr Rohan Leppert told The Age that the new discounted fees were lower than areas outside the municipality and the council had consulted widely to ensure the reintroduction occurred at the right time.

“It has to happen at some point. This is public land, we can’t freely gift it to businesses,” Leppert said.

“And there are plenty of businesses that don’t have access to parklets and outdoor dining area. So there has to be equity driven into the equation somewhere.”

The council motion said approximately $2.36 million worth of outdoor dining fees had been waived since October 2020 to support the city’s businesses.

The return of outdoor dining fees is expected to net the council $716,000 in revenue this financial year, according to the motion.

The council will also waive busking permits fees until June 2023, forgoing $22,000 in revenue, as the CBD continues its recovery from the pandemic.

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