Councillor Jess Jennings wants to see council make some of its land available for hospitality businesses to use free of charge so they can increase patronage once COVID-19 restrictions imposed upon them ease.

"I'd like to see our council relax its rules for outside dining, obviously because of the COVID-19 health restrictions, but to try to maximise the amount of customers our retail and hospitality sectors can have," he said.

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There are two options for this, the first being to allow businesses to utilise adjacent property, like footpaths.

"Footpaths would probably be the most likely for a lot of businesses," Cr Jennings said.

"If social distancing means they have to halve the number of customers inside, if they can get another 10, 20 or 30 per cent of customers close by outside, then obviously that is going to expand their cash flow."

The second option Cr Jennings has suggested is for council to arrange weekly or fortnightly night markets that businesses could set up shop at.

His preference for a venue would be Bathurst Showground, as it offers a lot of space and would provide some support to that business, which has had events cancelled or postponed.

Both options Cr Jennings has put forward are aimed at increasing consumer confidence and spending to boost the local economy.

"I think a progressive, forward-thinking council that wants to help its community would look to do whatever it can, in terms of temporarily adjusting the rules for outdoor dining, and potentially look at the events of things likes night markets," he said.

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Cr Jennings has had discussions with senior council staff to see if these ideas are feasible and the early indication is positive.

"I've had a good chat with the general manager and the director for planning and they are both open to the idea and are trying to work out how they can make it work," he said.

Cr Jennings has also discussed the idea with multiple business owners.

Among those open to the idea are the owners of Restaurant 9inety 2wo, Brett Melhuish and Rob Falama.

If they were allowed to open their restaurant, they would need to comply with the four-square-metre rule, which would mean they could only have about 12 patrons seated inside, down from around 50.

They would like the option for extra space and are also open to the idea of night markets.

"Anything that gets more people around," Mr Melhuish said.