Hospitality business owners have panned a new outdoor dining policy that will slug them with fees of up to $7000 to leave chairs and tables outside permanently.
Newcastle councillors approved a new outdoor dining policy and guidelines which include provision for leaving furniture outdoors overnight.
City of Newcastle said a number of venues had approached the council seeking permission to install large, heavy furniture on the public footway.
"Elsewhere in the Hunter and indeed up until recently in Newcastle, leaving outdoor dining furniture on the public footpath overnight was not legally possible," a council spokesperson said.
The policy makes Newcastle the first council in NSW to provide an option for outdoor furniture to be kept permanently in public areas.
Businesses that bring the tables and chairs inside at closing time will not be charged a fee.
A draft version of the policy included a $7000 fee to keep furniture outside after 10pm, however after public exhibition, a smaller fee of $4000 was added for businesses with an outdoor dining length of 10m or less, with the $7000 fee applicable for larger outdoor spaces.
The hours will also be assessed on merit as per the venue's DA conditions.
But business owners say the fees are exorbitant and discourage them from pursuing outdoor dining.
Owner of The Happy Wombat and Young Street Hotel Luke Tilse said the fee would disincentivise businesses from buying nicer, heavier furniture, in favour of cheaper, lighter tables and chairs that can be brought inside.
"Craftsman made furniture is generally heavy - steel, timber," he said.
"The problem with it is, if you want to bring it in, you can't move it.
"So instead of beautifying the street with artisan furniture, people will end up buying cheap flimsy furniture so they can bring it inside and don't have to pay the fee."
The Happy Wombat has heavy metal barriers outside, which Mr Tilse said he was looking at changing to a cheaper, lighter material.
"It's good that there is the option to do it legally now, but what is the actual reason for council charging $7000?" Mr Tilse said.
"Cafes and restaurants are in the most dire of need right now.
"So many bars and restaurants are not even paying their tax to survive the inflation crisis."
Slingtown Espresso and Good Brother owner Chris Johnston was even more scathing of the policy, saying the council had "zero appreciation for the small businesses that dominate the streetscape of this city".
"I don't know of any food and beverage businesses locally that could pay this easily right now," he said.
Mr Johnston said he had "beautiful, locally-made" hardwood tables that he couldn't afford to keep outside with the new policy.
"Instead I've had to replace them with cheap furniture imported from overseas that won't last three months," he said.
"To put it in perspective I would have to sell 5000 extra coffees a year just to pay for this new fee.
"For the council to even consider introducing this policy at this time is just so disheartening."
Gavin McKenzie from Method Brewing said he wrote a strong objection to the policy when it was exhibited.
He said he could not understand why the council would charge thousands when businesses already had to pay for public liability insurance to have furniture on public land.
"There just didn't really seem to be any justification or evidence to back up that figure," he said.
"It seems totally opposite to what other councils are doing.
"Others are trying really hard to facilitate outdoor dining.
"This seems like a bit of a money grabbing exercise."
The business owners said the council also complicated the use of outdoor furniture by not allowing it to be placed against buildings, and instead saying it has to be out further on the footpath.
But several Newcastle councillors defended the policy when voting to approve it on December 12.
Labor councillor Peta Winney-Baartz said the council had to balance supporting hospitality with public safety.
"We really want to see cosmopolitan outdoor dining that helps our businesses and their communities grow, but we need to ensure that the appropriate use of our pathways and thoroughfares is safe and equitable for everyone including those who may have accessibility issues, use mobility aids, people who have vision impairment or perhaps use wheelchairs and scooters or even need to push a prams through that thoroughfare," she said.
Greens councillor Charlotte McCabe said she thought the fee was justified.
"Footpaths are public spaces, it's public land and for a private business to permanently fix furniture there, I think it's fitting that there should be some fee," she said.
A City of Newcastle spokesperson said other councils in the Hunter and Central Coast did not have the option for permanent outdoor furniture on public land.
"Most charge a significant fee just to use the footpath during trading hours," the spokesperson said.
"Guidelines around the location of outdoor dining furniture are to provide disability and public pedestrian access, which should be prioritised over private business patrons."
The spokesperson said in 2020 the council became the first in NSW to scrap all outdoor dining fees to encourage more alfresco dining.
They said the draft policy also received "strong support" from Business Hunter and the Newcastle sub-branch of the Australian Hotels Association.
AHA NSW Newcastle Hunter sub-branch president Michael Starkey said the association's submission asked the council to consider amendments "which would take into account the diverse nature of our member's business models, patron capacity, and in some cases, a lack of access to other outdoor spaces such as beer gardens".
"We believe the final outdoor dining policy is in keeping with the aim of the vibrancy reforms adopted by the NSW government," he said.
"We welcome council's progressive outlook and commitment to developing a vibrant and diverse night-time economy for the city of Newcastle."
