Footpath trading fees curbed

By Lachlan Ellis

This financial year’s jump in footpath trading fees shocked some Moorabool shopkeepers, but Council is taking steps to fix the issue.

Earlier this month, an email went out to local business owners and Chambers of Commerce, in which Council stated it “will undertake a further review of the fee structure which will include a consultation process”, and “fees for footpath trading for this financial year will be waived”.

The fee is paid to Council for permits for businesses to put items out on the footpath, such as displays and tables.

Ros Gatt, who spoke to the Moorabool News in September about a jump of over $2,000 in the fees at Ballan’s Zest Café, said the move to engage with businesses was welcome news.

“I’m pretty happy with that outcome, we just have to wait and see what happens with that consultation. Maybe that’ll happen after Christmas, let’s hope the result is something that’s fair and reasonable for all traders,” Ms Gatt told the Moorabool News.

“Back near the $500 fees we used to pay would be fair. It was a massive increase, not quite five times…I didn’t understand why it needed to increase that much.”

Ms Gatt is cautiously optimistic about the review, and hopes Council will do more to engage with busy business owners during the consultation period.

“Face-to-face consultation with everyone is difficult, I know…but this is what started the whole issue in the first place, Council said ‘surely you received correspondence from us [about the increased footpath trading fees]’, well no, we didn’t,” she said.

“Maybe they put something on their webpage, but I’m not monitoring what’s going on at the Shire all the time. As a business owner, you’ve got a million things to worry about, and that’s sort of not one of them. You’re relying on them to send you your bill, rates, and all those things.”