Second Helping Needed On Food Van Policy

Wollongong City Council’s new mobile food vending policy should be only the first step with more ambitious ideas needed such as pop-up eat-streets and extended opening hours, according to Deputy Lord Mayor Tania Brown.

The policy was adopted at Council’s Monday meeting with many Councillors saying it failed to meet their expectations.

“The policy allows suburban coffee carts, which are often popular but we can do more in this space to activate areas and make destinations people look forward to visiting,” Cr Brown said.

‘It’s clear that Councillors expected a more ambitious outcome from the trials and draft policy, including finding spaces that could be weekly or monthly pop-up eat-streets with multiple food vans creating a destination.’

Cr Brown said she would ask the new term of Council to revisit the policy and workshop ideas for additional trials of new options for food vans.

‘People love the idea of mobile eat-streets and Thursday night in the Mall is popular - we should look at replicating this vibe in selected locations in the suburbs,” Cr Brown said.

Site selection for larger events and extended opening times for vans operating under the existing policy wound need to ensure bricks and mortar traders are not negatively impacted and that new sites had suitable facilities such as seating and toilets, according to Cr Brown.