Ipswich in Winter - 2021

​In 2020, our council lead the way by becoming the first local government in Queensland to sign on to be a Small Business Friendly Council. So what does that mean? It’s about looking at ways to cut back on red tape and make doing business with us easier for more local businesses. One of the first projects undertaken by the team was requested by Councillor Jacob Madsen. Cr Madsen had been approached by food truck operators about the time it took to get a location approved for a food truck site. Currently there are up to five departments that can be involved to approve an application for a food truck to trade across locations in Ipswich. Some applications can take upwards of one month to process, with issues such as what type of road, public safety and the need for Queensland Health licenses among considerations. WORKING TOGETHER TO SMOOTH WAY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

For the most part, this used to be a manual process. The Local Business and Investment Team has worked with other departments across council to: ■ Streamline processes and automate where possible an application process ■ Make it easier for food truck With the help of various departments, the team is looking forward to launching a new friendly guide for food truck operators and a new tool developed by ICT on the 1 July this year. The Small Business Friendly Council initiative was established by the State Government’s Office of the Small Business Commissioner, which was set up as part of the government’s COVID-19 emergency response. operators to nominate locations to be included for future food truck locations.

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