Ballarat council promises outdoor dining upgrades for 42 businesses

Council announced the results of its recent outdoor dining survey on Wednesday, but the full report has not yet been made public - this will be presented to council in July.

The funding, which uses council and state government money, will bring permanent wind barriers and umbrellas to 42 hospitality businesses, to be installed on footpaths.

No parking spots will be lost in the project, Councillor Samantha McIntosh said.

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The infrastructure is expected to be installed by October.

While 71 businesses applied for upgrades, not everyone was successful - a council FAQ document states some locations will have "upcoming" streetscape works for outdoor dining, while others applied for upgrades on Crown or private land, or there was insufficient footpath space.

The upgrades are not for on-street dining, as was seen during the summer with $200,000 dining boxes on Armstrong and Sturt streets.

The FAQ document states the set-ups were "always intended to be temporary", and gave council "the opportunity to survey our community and visitors on what they thought".

"Council is now investigating future options for more permanent, creative, and comfortable dining spaces in the city," it states.

The full list of 42 successful businesses has not yet been released - Cr McIntosh said in a statement "(w)hile successful applicants have been informed their outdoor dining infrastructure has been approved, the details of these agreements are yet to be finalised and so releasing a map of those businesses would be premature at this time".

Bringing back short-term 15-minute pick-up and drop-off car parks "is not part of this specific plan for outdoor dining, but may be considered in future traffic management and business activation plans," she added.

On Wednesday, Cr McIntosh was at Sturt Street's Turret Cafe to announce the funding.

"Each area will have a different combination of infrastructure response," she said.

"Ultimately it's about encouraging more outside dining, with wind barriers to make it more pleasant - we know Ballarat's weather is a little bit of each season.

"I'm sure there will be other businesses that would like be successful, and that's the challenge - there's a certain pot of money and we have to work within that, and I would expect there will be other businesses that will put their name down on a waiting list.

"It would be wonderful if we could roll out everything all at once, but that's not the availability of funding that we have."

The Turret's owner Carmel West said she was looking forward to wind barriers being installed on Sturt and Errard streets, which will double the cafe's outdoor dining capacity.

"Certainly through summer, it will extend our dining experience," she said.

While the full report has not yet been released, council noted almost 70 per cent of respondents to the survey were 'happy' or 'very happy' with the temporary outdoor dining spaces.

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"The majority of respondents said they would be prepared to park further than 400 metres from their destination and willing to walk more than 4-5 minutes from their cars if there were more active streets with space for outdoor dining," a council media release states.

"One clear theme that emerged was that future outdoor dining spaces in Ballarat should be aesthetically pleasing, with good design and protection from the weather.

"The draft Council budget 2021-2022 includes a $700,000 allocation for CBD Outdoor Dining and Streetscape Activation.

"Of this, $200,000 is a carryover of the State government grant, to be used to install this infrastructure. The remaining $500,000 budget will be used for streetscaping works to support outdoor dining, the details of which are yet to be scoped."

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