Will Werribee Look Like This?

Wyndham residents and visitors will be dining in the open air on footpaths, streets, parking spaces and pop-up alfresco areas, as metropolitan Melbourne celebrates the reopening of outdoor dining.

Wyndham Director City Design and Liveability, Ludo Campbell-Reid said a range of Council initiatives had been developed, with a goal of supporting businesses by offering additional outdoor space to trade from.

“With the support of grant funding from Victorian Government’s Outdoor Eating and Entertainment Package, Wyndham City will deliver a number of projects to support businesses with more options as they adapt to new models of outdoor dining in a safe and practical way,” Mr Campbell-Reid said.

“This includes free, streamlined permitting processes to support and guide businesses to expand their outdoor space by using Council-managed land. This includes footpaths, streets, car parks and open space.”

Mr Campbell-Reid said there are also a range of activations and special projects in the works, in collaboration with local businesses, that would collectively deliver an additional 1938m2 of outdoor dining space to residents, allowing for an extra 700 patrons to be served at local businesses in each sitting.

“We’re also working on a series of pop up activations, which will add an extra 1484m2 of dining space across Wyndham.”

Image: PCPUP. Could the Point Cook Pop Up Park make a comeback?

One of the many initiatives is a West End Experience – a concept developed in response to feedback from local businesses in the heart of the Werribee City Centre.

“We’re still going through the consultation process with many businesses in the area, but what we’ve heard from many is that they would be interested in extending their outdoor dining offering onto the street,” Mr Campbell-Reid said.

“The plan, which is still being developed, would see an outdoor alfresco dining area extending out onto the road of Watton Street between Bridge Hotel and Wedge Street Piazza. This will be delivered as part of a series of one-day activations, with the potential to build to a multi-day event. No single business would own the space, and all local businesses are invited to participate.”

“Three parklets will be installed in Hoppers Junction in November and up to three units will be available for interested businesses in the Werribee City Centre.”

The parklets that were on Watton Street, Werribee.

We are also supporting local businesses to create new dining precincts which will be created at the Point Cook Town Centre and Soho Village, where patrons can safely gather to enjoy a meal of a drink.

In addition to these initiatives and programs, to make the process easier for businesses, the permitting system has been fast-tracked and streamlined, with fees waived.

“We have also introduced a new, free Temporary Commercial Use of Public Space Permit to provide additional options for businesses in town centres and shopping strips when it comes to Council-managed land, such as streets, car parks and open space (excluding parks and reserves).”

Wyndham City will also provide free use of a flexible suite of outdoor dining infrastructure, including four alfresco pods and eight dining kits, with expressions of interest via the Temporary Commercial Use of Public Space permit process.

We encourage businesses to visit Outdoor Dining and Trading for Wyndham Businesses, to explore these options in greater detail.