Slow approval of Ballarat liquor licences ‘hampering businesses’

The head of Commerce Ballarat says the slow approval of liquor licences in the city is hampering some businesses.

The newsroom understands there’s a back log of about 1,000 licenses, with the time it takes to approve them blowing out to 6 months.

CEO of Commerce Ballarat, Jodie Gillett, says the glacial speed is damaging.

“As far as we’re concerned, and other business groups are concerned, we just need to fix it,” she said.

“We need our businesses [and] they need our support right now. We want to encourage new businesses, so we don’t want to be seeing them under huge financial pressure before they even open their doors.”