Council exploring options for permanent outdoor dining

Westmeath County Council is exploring a number of proposals for permanent outdoor dining facilities in Mullingar and Athlone.

In Mullingar, the council is looking at installing facilities at either the Market Square or Dominick Square.

Speaking at last Friday’s virtual meeting of the Economic Enterprise Development and Tourism Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), director of services Barry Kehoe said the council is weighing up options ahead of making an application for funding under the government’s new Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme.

Announced at the end of March, the €17m initiative is broken into two parts. Under part one, which is administered by local authorities, hospitality businesses can apply for up to €4,000 to develop and increase their outdoor seating capacities.

Funding allocated under part two of scheme will enable local authorities to develop permanent outdoor public dining spaces in towns and urban centres, similar to those that exist in many European cities. Local authorities can apply for up to €200,000, and the funds are administered by Bord Fáilte.

Mr Kehoe said that the council was consulting with different partners ahead of making a funding application in the coming weeks. He added that there were a number of “tricky issues to be resolved in terms of management, maintenance and security”, but that the council “will work our way through them”.

SPC sectoral representative John Geoghegan from Mullingar Chamber of Commerce said that there was a “lot to like” about the scheme and said that the chamber is available to assist the council in their preparations.

Hospitality businesses applying for funding under part one of the scheme have until September 30 to do so. If a business intends to install outdoor furniture on a council controlled space such as a footpath, plaza or green, it must first obtain a licence.

Payments will be made to successful applicants once they submit receipts and photographs of their new outdoor furniture.

Cllr Emily Wallace asked that if necessary extra staff will be made available to process the applications and said that it was important that local hospitality businesses are “targeted” – she wants them to be made aware that the funding is there and of what they need to do to avail of it.

She also noted that the guidelines for outdoor dining state that outdoor furniture must be at least 1.25m from the road, a problem for many hospitality businesses.

“That’s four foot. There are situations in many of our towns and villages where that is not an opportunity. How is our leniency on this?

“I know governments in other jurisdictions are allowing it to come to the edge of the footpath. I know we have to make allowances for accessibility and that whatever we put out on our streets is safe and people have safe access, but we are also acutely aware of the pressure that businesses are currently under.”

Mr Kehoe said that when it comes to the installation of outdoor furniture in public spaces “safety is the first priority”.

“We need to make sure that people with buggies and people who use wheelchairs can make their way safety and comfortably along the street as they are entitled to do. We are really looking at areas where there is surplus space that can me made available.

“Even if that is a parking space, certainly we shouldn’t have an issue with that. It is a better use for a parking space to have someone dining and relaxing than having a car parked there.

“That is certainly something that we would encourage people to look at as a possibility, especially where it is off the beaten path in a small off-road parking area. We are open to that and the districts would be open to that.”

In a statement issued to the Westmeath Examiner following a query about the installation of permanent outdoor dining facilities in Mullingar town centre, the council said that it was considering Market Square and Dominick Square as locations.

"The Local Authority application must be supported by a minimum of three letters of support from hospitality businesses in the area.

"Management and maintenance of the proposed project are the responsibility of the Local Authority and local business through a binding legal agreement," a spokesperson said.