Elche council cancels charges for street market vendors and terrace charges for restaurants

The council will lose around 1 million euros but says this is a direct and practical way of helping some of the worst-hit businesses in the municipality

Elche City Council has decided to support one of the hardest-hit business sectors of the covid pandemic by suspending the charges normally made by local councils to bars and restaurants who set up tables and chairs in streets and plazas.

Normally businesses are charged for the amount of space they occupy in public streets which must be cleaned and maintained by local councils, but this fee will be waived for the remainder of 2020 and throughout 2021 in a move to offer some form of financial support for the hostelry sector.

In addition, street market vendors, also badly hit by the crisis as many have been unable to work for months during lockdown and sales have been drastically reduced, will not be charged for the spaces they occupy although they must continue to maintain active licenses.

The City Council, has stated that these measures will result in lost revenue of around 1 million euros for the council, but will directly support local businesses in a practical fashion.