Share your feedback on the draft outdoor dining guidelines, aimed to provide clear, practical advice to hospitality businesses on outdoor dining.


Outdoor dining brings our streets to life and supports local businesses. It is part of what makes Greater Geelong such a great place to live. We want to make the process of applying for outdoor dining easier. That’s why we’ve developed Draft Outdoor Dining Guidelines, and now we’d love your feedback.

The draft guidelines provide clear, practical advice for businesses wanting to set up or expand outdoor dining, whether it’s on footpaths, in laneways, or in parklets. The process is designed to be simple and easy to navigate, so businesses know exactly what’s required and how to get started.

The guidelines reflect the ideas and feedback we heard during the first phase of this project, and now it’s your turn to let us know if we’ve got it right.

Tell us:

  • Do the guidelines help make the outdoor dining process easier to navigate?
  • Will they support a lively, inclusive city?
  • Is there anything we’ve missed?

Have your say today and help make outdoor dining even better in Greater Geelong!


Contact Us

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback by phone or in writing, please contact us using the details below:

Contact Information
Name Public Realm Unit
Phone 5272 5272
Email publicrealm@geelongcity.vic.gov.au
In writing

Attention: Urban Design and Place Department, Public Realm Unit

City of Greater Geelong

Wadawurrung Country

PO Box 104

Geelong 3220

We developed the Outdoor Dining Guidelines to provide clarity and direction for businesses to obtain an outdoor dining permit while protecting safety, accessibility, and amenity for nearby residents, businesses, and pedestrians.

Building on our existing ‘Footpath and Designated Roads Trading and Activity Policy’ (available in the document library on this page), the guidelines streamlined the application process for an outdoor dining permit. They provided a decision-making framework for evaluating applications and ensured the application process was clear and simple.

The objectives of the guidelines were:

  • To promote economic development
  • To enhance the dining and visitor experience
  • To promote laneway and street dining culture without hindering other footpath functionalities
  • To establish exciting and vibrant streetscapes through a diverse range of activities
  • To promote aesthetically pleasing footpath trading infrastructure

In pursuing active, vibrant, safe, and accessible footpath trading activities, this project was consistent with the direction of Council’s Central Geelong Revitalisation Strategies, Strategic Planning direction, and the Footpath & Designated Road Trading and Activity Guidelines.

We were committed to creating a vibrant and prosperous city. We knew that busy, active footpaths had a positive impact on the viability of businesses and the vitality of city life. We wanted to support businesses in contributing to the sense of place without compromising on access and safety. The first round of engagement sought to capture trader and community ideas to inform the Outdoor Dining Guidelines.

The input collected was used during the development of the Draft Guidelines.

Once the Draft Guidelines were complete, they were released for another round of engagement. Traders and the community had the opportunity to provide feedback on what was proposed.

The Engagement Summary Report available here.

Thank you to everyone who provided input; it was valued and appreciated.

The personal information and feedback (collectively the Data) requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong (City) for the purpose of Draft Outdoor Dining Guidelines, and any other directly related purpose (Project).

A de-identified engagement summary report may be published on our website.

If your personal information is not collected, the Project may not be able to be adequately conducted, and the City may not be able to contact you for further questions or to find solutions.

In order to collect and conduct in depth and detailed analysis of the Data for the purposes of the Project, the City will disclose the Data (including your personal information if provided) to its third-party service providers, including Social Pinpoint Pty Ltd, Converlens Pty Ltd and Amazon Web Services.

Other than as stated above, your personal information will not be disclosed to any external party without your consent, except as required or authorised by law.

Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to the City, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.