City of Sydney Council has boarded the vibrancy train, heralding the loosening of regulations and making Sydney’s extensive COVID-inspired street dining spaces permanent.
The new alfresco dining spaces were introduced in 2020 as part of efforts to revive hospitality trade following COVID-19 while still considering the potential for viral spread, leading to the permissibility of outdoor solutions.
City of Sydney (CoS) has gone on to approve close to 1,000 of these, creating in the region of 1.3-Ha of new outdoor dining options at over 850 venues, in what was predominantly parking spaces.
CoS has now allocated $20 million to change the protective boundaries from moveable concrete barriers to permanent, landscaped extensions to the existing footpaths.
The NSW state government revoked its COVID-inspired ban on people drinking outdoors unless seated last year, leading to hundreds of pubs able to drop the requirement. But the CoS guidelines continued to stipulate outdoor patrons standing or venturing from their table risked putting the venue in breach.
Guidelines reissued in July specified outdoor dining areas must have their patrons “seated at tables or standing at cocktail tables”. This continued approach to the evolved use of footpaths and roads for outdoor dining areas has led to council increasingly clashing with hospitality business owners.
The disparity led Premier Chris Minns to suggest Sydney should follow the lead of other major international cities, quipping council needed to take a breath and let people “have a bit of fun”.
Similarly, it has been revealed some pubs and areas of inner Sydney are being excluded from the state government strategy of ‘special entertainment precincts’ by council regulations, seemingly driven by the need to keep ‘NIMBYs’ appeased.
A draft plan is now in the works, bringing potential to ease tensions with a host of venues, armed with five-year approvals and a simplified application process for outdoor dining spaces, as well as eased rules on use of footpath elements such as garden boxes.
The proposed changes are also tipped to both rescind the ban on live entertainment and finally remove the rules requiring outdoor patrons to be seated.
Rather than dictating what businesses can or cannot do, CoS says they “don’t want any red tape” holding back operators and will simply require that a clear path for pedestrians is maintained and neighbours are happy.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said council is “flipping the script” to encourage the outdoor spaces and make it easier for businesses, ensuring the “outdoor dining revolution” remained a part of Sydney’s streetscape indefinitely.
The barriers put in place to keep patrons shielded are seen as a ‘safe but ugly’ solution, and council poses to replace them with “beautiful, permanent spaces” that will not only improve the aesthetics of the city’s street but also “how we experience it” while protecting access for people with limited mobility.
This consolidates CoS’ change of policy on fees for footpath and on-road spaces, which were waived this year, and will expand the nearly 50 of 175 approved street dining areas in the CBD, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst that are already being made permanent.
Council’s announcement was well received by Business Sydney, with CEO Paul Nicolaou, former CEO of the AHA NSW, praising the replacement of what are largely seen as roadside ‘bunkers’ with enhancements that will bolster the appeal of the streets.
Announced Wednesday, the updated guidelines will go before CoS councillors this month, and if passed will see public exhibition in January.
