The City of Vincent has taken an innovative approach to revitalising its public spaces and town centres, underpinned by the Vibrant Public Spaces Policy (VPSP) and Business Enhancement Grants (BEG).
Over the past two financial years, they have cut red tape and lowered the cost of doing business with the City, transforming public spaces into vibrant, accessible areas that encourage people to linger longer, through the provision of grant funding for parklets, eatlets and affixed eating area furniture.
Project cost
$73,000
The 2024-25 round cost approximately $73,000, comprising $70,000 in matched grant funding.
Project timeframe
The 2024-25 round of BEG took 10 months:
What was the problem or opportunity being addressed?
The City of Vincent saw an opportunity to support businesses by fostering a vibrant public realm with high pedestrian amenity, encouraging people to linger longer in newly activated spaces and increase foot traffic.The combination of the Business Enhancement Grants and the implementation of the Vibrant Public Space Policy provided the opportunity to stimulate investment into the City of Vincent’s public realm and streets, improve relationships with and support small businesses, cut red tape, lower the cost of doing business, and activate public spaces.
How the project addressed the problem or opportunity
For businesses, the combination of the BEG program and Vibrant Public Space Policy provided tangible financial support and advice from the Place Planning team to spark small-scale improvements in the public realm and its interface with private property. For the Place Planning team, the BEG program provided a great opportunity to proactively engage with the business community, encourage the take up of the Vibrant Public Space Policy, facilitate the incremental beautification and activation of the public realm, and increase dwell times and the number of visitors to town centres and neighbourhoods. For the City of Vincent, this investment delivered the highest value for money among all town centre projects, while for the community, it resulted in more vibrant, welcoming neighbourhoods and public spaces.
Project outcomes
The successful delivery of 17 BEG projects, including the installation of affixed eating area furniture, parklets and eatlets through six of those projects.
Lessons learnt
- Direct engagement with small businesses in the City of Vincent’s town centres has proven vital for raising awareness of the opportunities offered through the Business Enhancement Grants (BEG) and Vibrant Public Space Policy. This targeted outreach is believed to have contributed to increased applications for the BEG program, rising from 65 in 2023-24 to 94 in 2024-25.
- The return on investment for the Business Enhancement Grants matched funding is significant. In 2023-24, for every $1 contributed by the City of Vincent, applicants invested $3+ of their own funds to enhance the town centre. The BEG program has consistently supported the uptake of the Vibrant Public Space Policy, enabling businesses that may not have been able to cover the full cost on their own to create high-quality public infrastructure.
