Swan Hill Rural City Council has developed a draft Mobile Food Trading Code of Practice and want to hear from you!
Director Development and Planning, Heather Green said mobile food establishments are growing rapidly across the state, giving the community and tourists more options when fixed businesses are not open.
"In the past three years Council has had an increase in the number of enquiries about mobile food trading, prompting a recent trial.
"In response to the increased interest, we ran an 18 month trial at the Swan Hill Riverside Park. The trial involved Mobile Food Traders applying to operate in the area at set times and dates.
"Currently, Mobile Food Traders are only able to operate at markets or private events with limited, short term permits given for Mobile Food Traders in public locations," Ms Green said.
Ms Green said a draft Mobile Food Trading Code of Practice and proposed fee structure was developed based on the learnings from the trial and is now open for community consultation.
"We want to hear from the local community and businesses on whether Mobile Food Trading should occur on council managed public land, and how it should be best managed.
"The draft Mobile Food Trading Code of Practice aims to create a balance between fixed businesses and the mobile food vendors by setting limits on available trading hours and locations that mobile food vendors can trade on public land," she said.
Ms Green said Council has two surveys open for public input, one for the dining community and one specifically for food businesses.
"We want to ensure that we receive input from the whole community, so we have created surveys that will capture data from all perspectives," she said.
The surveys will be open from Friday, 25 June here and close on Monday, 26 July 2021.
