21/09/2026
Mornington Peninsula Shire, seriously, enough is enough!
At a time when small businesses are battling higher wages, insurance, rent, utilities, interest costs and seemingly endless compliance, Council has decided what local traders need is another layer of permits, annual fees, paperwork and bureaucracy.
Want an A-frame outside your shop? Permit.
Planter box? Permit.
Tables and chairs? Permit.
Display some goods outside your own premises? Permit.
And this isn't simply, “keep the footpath clear and don't create a hazard.”
Businesses are being asked for site plans showing measurements and Council infrastructure, photographs of what they're putting outside, $20 million public liability insurance naming the Shire as an interested party, prescribed pedestrian and kerbside clearances, annual renewals, and then annual fees based on the square metres of Council footpath you're permitted to use.
For 2026/27 those permit fees are $104 per m² for non-liquor trading and $129 per m² where liquor is involved. Council is currently waiving the $172 application fee until 1 November 2026, but the actual annual permit fees remain.
This is bureaucracy gone mad.
Of course footpaths should be safe. Of course people using wheelchairs, mobility aids and prams need proper access.
Nobody sensible is arguing otherwise.
So establish a clear rule: keep the required pedestrian clearance, don't obstruct access and don't create a hazard.
Then enforce it when someone actually breaches it.
Why does putting an ordinary sign, planter box or a couple of tables outside a local business need to become another annual administrative and financial exercise?
Council itself says this policy is supposed to help create “vibrant, welcoming streets” and support traders.
Perhaps Mornington Peninsula Shire could explain how piling more permits, annual charges, plans, insurance requirements and compliance obligations onto small businesses achieves that.
Our local businesses employ people, activate our shopping strips, sponsor sporting clubs, support community groups and are a huge part of what makes the Mornington Peninsula what it is.
They should be spending their time serving customers and running their businesses, not navigating another Council compliance regime because they want to put an A-frame or planter box outside their front door.
There has to be some proportionality and common sense.
Small business deserves better than this.
Mornington Peninsula Shire, I think local traders deserve a proper explanation of why this level of regulation and annual charging is necessary.
