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COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen considers limit to outside seating for bars and cafés

Over 1,500 Copenhagen residents have submitted their views on a municipal plan to limit how late bars and restaurants are permitted to serve outside in specific parts of the city.

Copenhagen considers limit to outside seating for bars and cafés
Late outside serving (although not in the Meatpacking District, pictured) could be limited under a Copenhagen Municipality proposal. Photo:Olafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix

A hearing phase in which the public can submit its views on the plan closes today with over 1,500 people have sent in their opinions, broadcaster DR reports.

A narrow majority at the city government is in favour of a proposal to enforce a closing time of 10pm for outside serving at bars, cafes and restaurants in most of the Copenhagen municipality. Some central areas will be excluded from the rules.

The 1,500 submissions on the municipality’s website during the open hearing period is the highest number of responses received on an individual question by a huge margin, according to DR.

The second-highest number, received in relation to the environmental impact of the M5 Metro line, got 39 responses.

Specifically, the proposal would see service for outside seating stop at 10pm on weekdays. This would apply to the entire municipality of Copenhagen with the exception of the so-called “Metropole Zone” between the historic part of inner Copenhagen and Vesterbro; the Meatpacking District in Vesterbro; and Nyhavn.

A key element in the debate is the noise and disturbance experienced by neighbours to outside seating areas. Weighting in favour of late outside service is the positive impact for businesses and giving the capital a more lively atmosphere.

Sector interest organisation Danmarks Restaurants og Caféer said it had submitted its view under the hearing process.

More limited outdoor serving would have a severe impact on the city’s atmosphere, Freja Brandhøj, political director with the organisation, told DR.

“We simply believe that this proposal degrades rather than improves the capital. Many people have worked hard for a vibrant Copenhagen,” she said.

The chairperson of the Residents’ Association for Indre Nørrebro, Gøje Rostrup, said it is unfair that people may be forced to move out of the area if they don’t like noise emanating from the city’s streets.

The association was founded to campaign in favour of resident complaints stemming from being neighbours to bars and other businesses that serve food and drinks until late.

“Many of us have lived here for decades and have experienced how the noise has invaded,” said Rostrup, who has sent a consultation response on behalf of residents.

All 1,500 hearing responses are to be forwarded to councillors on the city works (Teknik og Miljø) committee, who will decide on how the finalised version of the proposal will look.

The Social Democrats, Socialist People’s Party (SF), Conservative and Alternative parties were behind the initial proposal. The latter party said it will decide on its final position once it has considered the hearing responses.

Hearing responses can still be sent to Copenhagen Municipality until midnight on Thursday.

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FAMILY

Copenhagen forest kindergartens get delay on closure decision

A plan to close or downsize 33 municipal childcare institutions in Copenhagen including a number of famed forest kindergartens has been put on hold after the decision was blocked by a member of the city council.

Copenhagen forest kindergartens get delay on closure decision

A decision to close or downsize 33 kindergartens and creches in Copenhagen was stopped from moving forward during a committee meeting at Copenhagen Municipality on Wednesday.

The Alternative Party, which has an elected councillor on the committee, used its right to push the decision from the closed committee meeting to the full City Council [Danish: borgerrepræsentation], where discussions between the parties on the proposed closures can be followed publicly.

“This matter screams of a lack of transparency. It’s hard to clearly see why the 33 institutions have been selected. We now think there’s a need for more openness and a better process and we are therefore taking the matter to the City Council,” Alternative’s councillor Emil Sloth Andersen said in a statement reported by the Ritzau newswire.

Sloth Andersen said over 1,000 comments had been received from parents during the proposal’s public hearing phase, expressing opposition to the plan and criticising it for failing to take into account the individual quality of the institutions slated for closure.

Although the final decision over the closures can be taken by Social Democratic lord mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, Alternative’s wish is for a more “public, democratic and transparent” discussion on the cuts, according to Sloth Andersen.

As previously reported by The Local, some 33 institutions across the capital face either complete closure or a reduction in their capacity in a cost-cutting exercise in response to what the municipality says is a decline in demand for places. This is related to a drop in the number of young children who live in the city.

At risk from the cutbacks are a number of so-called udflytterinstitutioner, literally “excursion institutions” but probably better known as forest kindergartens.

These kindergartens, which revolve around a daily routine in which small children spend the majority or entirety of their time outside, including during winter, have gained the attention of international media in years past and been praised for their potential benefits to children.

Financial considerations “play a role” in determining which institutions will be closed, Copenhagen Municipality has previously said.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen’s famous forest kindergartens under threat from municipal closures

In a separate statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, the Copenhagen Municipality Children and Youth Committee [Børne- og Ungdomsudvalget] confirmed that the plan had been held up.

In the statement, the chairperson of the committee, Jakob Næsager of the Conservative Party, said he was “upset” about the outcome and accused Alternative of failing to take responsibility.

“I actually don’t understand why Alternative has chosen to put children, parents and staff in a position of uncertainty,” he said.

“We have 3,000 fewer children in the city than there were only four years ago, so of course we have to make downwards adjustments,” he said.

Elisabetta Taschini, whose eldest child attends the Jacob Holms Minde daycare in southern district Amager, said she was “among the many who have expressed their concern and sent proposals to the committee in the last weeks”.

Jacob Holms Minde is among the institutions which faces downsizing, including the closure of its forest group.

“Now, we wait and hope that the City Council will decide to keep all the forest kindergartens open, acknowledging the great pedagogical offer that they represent,” Taschini told The Local.

There is currently no firm date for discussion of the proposal in the City Council, the municipality said in the statement.

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