From the Dolly Parton Festival in Narromine to Cabramatta’s Moon Festival, NSW councils will be given millions of dollars in state government funding to close streets for events in a bid to revive ailing shopping strips.
But a Sydney mayor says the cost of closing a road, which averages almost $100,000 per day, is prohibitively expensive for cash-strapped councils and is a barrier to staging more festivals, markets and concerts.
NSW councils will be given millions of dollars to close streets for festivals, markets and concerts.Credit: Steven Siewert
The Minns government will provide up to $150,000 each for 130 events across NSW in the next 12 months under the $8.7 million Open Streets program, including a curry-making festival in Kurri Kurri, Trundle’s ABBA festival and the Parkes Elvis Festival.
High streets in Sydney will be closed for events such as a hip hop festival in Blacktown, Starry Sari Nights in Liverpool, Halloween in Concord and Christmas markets in Burwood, Camden and Mosman.
The City of Sydney closes inner-city roads such as Stanley Street in Darlinghurst for festivals as part of its Sydney Streets program, but the cost of shutting down a street is a drain on many councils’ resources.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said he would like to close shopping strips for events as often as every two weeks “but it’s so expensive to do so because of the regulations”.
Byrne said it was costly and complex to close a street for one day to hold events such as the Norton Street Italian Festa, Marrickville Music Festival and Bairro Português - Petersham Festival.
Data from Transport for NSW shows the average cost of closing down a main street for an event is $96,000 per day.
Traffic management (42 per cent) made up the bulk of the cost of a street festival followed by staffing including police, security, first aid and cleaning (27 per cent), consultants (20 per cent) and infrastructure such as barriers, toilet hire, electricity and traffic signage (4 per cent).
“All of this is predicated on the idea that the main street is dangerous,” Byrne added. “You go to a place like Barcelona where they deliberately design the whole city so that it’s easy for people to come out and use public space.”
The Minns government says it also wants to slash red tape, which it concedes makes the cost of staging free festivals, concerts and markets too expensive for many local councils and event organisers.
It will provide up to $500,000 under its Permit/Plug/Play Pilot program to councils, including the Inner West and Northern Beaches, to make it cheaper and easier to stage events.
“The costs are a big barrier,” Arts Minister John Graham said. “We are working to fix that so that we can have more of these events that bring our communities together and bring vibrancy to our main streets.”
Graham said hosting street events would boost business for local shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
“They also send the signal that the whole community is welcome,” he said.
Arts Minister John Graham said the cost of shutting down a main road for an event is a “big barrier”.Credit: Inner West Council
The Leichhardt Collective president Nigel Ng backs more street festivals to boost local businesses and “make use of the roads we all pay for as taxpayers”.
However, Ng said events such as the Norton Street Italian Festa, which is organised by The Leichhardt Collective, may inconvenience some residents because of road closures and are susceptible to bad weather.
“Our plans going forward are to create a continual schedule of smaller events that celebrate local businesses and provide tangible experiences for local residents,” he said. “Events like pizza making classes, cocktail masterclasses [and] music nights.”
Northern Beaches Council will apply for a grant to implement a standard traffic management plan and install signage and removable bollards to reduce the cost of providing infrastructure for street-based events.
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins said the program will make it easier to stage events.
“By reducing the costs associated with hosting street events and streamlining approval processes, we can encourage more local activities that bring people together, foster a sense of community and stimulate our local economy,” she said.
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