Restaurants, pubs and Commerce Ballarat have all voiced their concern with Ballarat City Council.

Their complaints centred on council allowing festivals, which do not involve Ballarat businesses, to use publicly owned land.

The recent Burger Festival at North Gardens was one example named by pub and restaurant owners.

Black Hill Hotel owner Tom McKenny said he suffered a noticeable drop in patronage when the festivals were in Ballarat.

“To see council allowed and supported in some sense, itinerant food truck festivals - it just bewilders me as a ratepayer, it staggers me,” he said.

“To have a whole of them roll up like a bunch of gypsy caravans is staggering.”

Cr Amy Johnson has requested a staff report investigating changes to council policy for event permits, including recovering costs.

She said she was not against the food festivals using council land, but they should be required to include Ballarat businesses.

“I suggest events have a minimum of 50 per cent local participation,” Cr Johnson said.

“If we are going to allow food trucks and traders from out of town to sell their wares, there should be a requirement for 50 per cent local participation.

“The large profits made from the events do not stay in our community and instead leave the community when these itinerant traders leave.”

Cr Johnson also said clean-up costs were often left to council, who had not way to claim it back from the events.

Council staff will prepare the report for consideration at a later meeting.

Permit fees to host events on public land do not cover he cost of cleaning up, or in-kind support, that council might have provided.

Commerce Ballarat chief executive Jodie Gillett said there had been three, four-day events in the past year, all of which had a devastating impact on trade.

“The point is the business community is here 12 months of the year, employing Ballarat people, paying rates,” she said.

“If these things are rare, that is a little different.

“Is it an event like White Night, which brings huge tourism to the city, an event like Springfest that invests money back into the city, or is just food trucks taking money out of the city?”