If there was one good thing to come out of Sydney’s socially distanced era, it was the increase in alfresco dining set-ups – with the NSW government relaxing the rules on street-based dining and opening the door for many a sidewalk spritz. This summer, as part of their vibrancy agenda, the state government has confirmed that street-based dining is here to stay. And there are likely to be many more alfresco occasions on the streets – now that the government’s Vibrant Streets program is making it easier for councils to temporarily close roads to traffic for community events like street parties.
To boost buzz on Sydney’s streets, the Vibrant Streets program will help reduce the cost and complexity typically involved with closing a street for a community event. From this month onwards, a grant program is open for councils to apply to close streets for community events – a process with far fewer steps than in previous years. Councils now have the power to approve road closures for neighbourhood gatherings on minor roads without approval from Transport for NSW – meaning that street party is so much closer.
Another key element of the Vibrant Streets: the “Permit/Plug/Play Pilot” program, which will focus on a “local problems, local solutions” approach, allowing for easier pre approvals for streets as event sites (meaning once you’ve held one street party, the next will be a thousand times easier to arrange).
“As a government we want to support communities, businesses and councils to bring life and vibrancy back to our streets. Councils will be helped to streamline pathways for creatives and community groups to stage pop-up events and festivals, including street closures,” said the Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy John Graham.
The Vibrant Streets program will complement the NSW Government’s Vibrancy Package – which aims to boost local entertainment zones, such as the existing special entertainment precinct of Enmore, as well as support live music – and will be supported by separate initiatives introduced by Transport for NSW to encourage more events and activities on local streets.
“This package of initiatives creates more opportunities to have fun outdoors by making it cheaper to arrange events and removing the often slow and complex application processes involved in delivering street activations,” Transport for NSW Executive Director Cities Revitalisation, Brooke Wharton said.
Keen to turn your street into a party? You can learn more about the new process for street closures and additional support for community events over here.