21 Jan, 2022

Free parking, dinner vouchers headline new incentives

The City of Adelaide Council is unified, unanimously voting to support struggling businesses and launch incentives to encourage more people to return to the city and North Adelaide.

At tonight’s special meeting, Council adopted more than 20 initiatives under the Reignite Adelaide 2.0 plan, headlined by:

• Free on-street parking for weeknights and weekends in key precincts and UPark discounts to support a successful festival season
• Small business cash grants for those hardest hit by the current restrictions
• “Welcome Back” lunch and dinner vouchers to be delivered by AEDA
• Extend the temporary parklets scheme enabling the hospitality industry to expand into the public realm and optimise outdoor capacity limits
• Doubling “Friday Night Live” incentive scheme to $180,000 supporting local musicians and venues and activating our city streets
• Advertising campaign of $250,000 promoting City hotels and experiences to South Australians

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said Council is committed to supporting city businesses during this incredibly challenging time.

“We will continue to focus on the practical things we can do to get people returning to the city and supporting our businesses,” said the Lord Mayor.

“This is a comprehensive program designed to deliver cost savings and generate income for local businesses by creating compelling reasons for people to safely come back to the city.

“Reignite 2.0 will be delivered through a combination of budget and project reprioritisation, foregone revenue, new budget requests to Council, and applications for State Government funding.

“I commend my fellow Councillors for working together to finalise this package as quickly as possible and thank our administration for their hard work and ongoing commitment to supporting the city as we continue to respond to COVID.

“I am also working closely with the Premier and the Treasurer to advocate for additional support measures from the State Government – we hope to have an outcome on these discussions and further measures to announced soon.

“I welcome the Premier’s return to work announcement and encourage returning workers to support city traders as much as possible. I look forward to all city workers coming back as soon as possible.”

The City of Adelaide will now work towards implementing these changes, with the financial impact to be determined. The City of Adelaide has already invested more than $12 million in COVID-19 City support programs and is currently delivering its $1.34 million Reignite Adelaide program.

For more information about current and future view the one page summary and visit Reignite Adelaide grants and incentives.

Ashleigh Pisani