REMOVING restaurant alfresco fees is among a string of initiatives the City of Stirling will introduce as part of a campaign to support small business.
Mayor Mark Irwin said at the recent Stirling Business Association annual awards that 95 per cent of business in the City comprised small businesses.
“That means you contribute to the 80,000 jobs,” he told guests at the awards function.
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READ NOW“So to the City of Stirling, you are very important.”
Cr Irwin said he believed the City had a mandate to make it easier to do business in Stirling.
“So this year we are very pleased to let you know our business breakfast will be focused entirely on small business,” he said.
“We are looking at every way we can to make it easier for you to do business.”
He said plans to support the sector included removing alfresco fees (“in this year’s budget there are no alfresco fees”), working on ways small businesses such as food trucks could do online applications, finding ways local businesses could tender for the City through an e-tender process, and running workshops for small businesses to allow them to do business in and with the City in a “much easier way”.
“I’d like to think we are going to go a long way rather than just saying we are small business friendly; actually doing what we’re talking about, so I’m really excited about that,” he said.
Read more: Balcatta-based Ultimo Constructions wins top gong.
Cr Irwin highlighted the benefit to small business of the Stephenson Avenue project in Innaloo.
He told the Stirling Business Association awards night the City had State and Federal government commitments of more than $120 million to extend the road from Scarborough Beach Road to Mitchell Freeway.
“It will ensure the Stirling City Centre is a major priority for the City over decades,” he said. “(The extension) is going to be delivered in the next couple of years.
“That will unlock a massive amount of landholdings in that area and it will also facilitate a lot of redevelopment.
“The reason that is so important to the businesses in this room is from that the redevelopment potential for commercial development, residential development and small businesses is going to be huge.
“And hopefully you will see the flow-on effect of that.”