Councillor Chris Harris

Draft Late-Night Trading Premises Development Control Plan 2007

As reported widely in the media, new draft approval guidelines have been designed to change the mix and type of licensed venues in Sydney. They will soon be exhibited for public comment.

The new rules, if ratified, will be less strict for smaller, ‘Category B’ venues which will be able to extend their trading hours more easily than larger ‘Category A’ venues.

This is intended to encourage smaller, more intimate bars of the kind more common in Melbourne and European cities.

Approval for extending operating hours beyond ‘base’ hours will be granted on a trial basis only. Larger venues will be limited to a one-year trial period before re-assessment. Smaller venues (those with a floor area under 200 square metres) will enjoy a maximum five-year period.

But trial periods mean that late trading approvals for either category become a privilege, not a right, and they give the City the power to withdraw consent if a venue consistently fails to meet its consent conditions. A full legal process is required to achieve this during a trial period. It seems the primary intention is to review eligibility at the end of each trial period.

This has been criticised as ‘de facto approval’ but venue owners on the other hand would no doubt be concerned about the extra paperwork and expense of repeatedly re-applying for consent.

Further, venues applying for extended hours will be granted extensions in increments − two hours extra per approval for large venues, three hours for smaller venues.

Larger venues will still have to lodge a ‘plan of management’ while smaller venues will only have to complete a checklist, reflecting the reduced impact these venues are expected to have on public amenity.

The City will appoint a dedicated Compliance Officer covering Kings Cross and plans to appoint more in future. The working hours of these officers are not clear. One resident group has suggested 10pm until 6am would be appropriate.

Kings Cross has been singled out in this regard even though it contains fewer pubs and clubs than Darlinghurst or the city, and has lower alcohol-related crime rates than several areas including the city. [See crime table, SMH]

The approval process will also consider the mix, diversity and possible concentration of other late-night uses in the locality.

Late night trading areas will be classified in the following hierarchy:

a. Late Night Management Areas (eg Kings Cross)
b. City living areas (eg Chinatown)
c. Local Centre Areas (eg Glebe retail strip)

New Category ‘A’ premises will initially be limited to a 12pm base closing time. There are concerns that this will make new nightclubs unviable as most of their clientele does not even arrive until midnight. This could have the unintended consequence of limiting that end of the market to REALLY big players who can afford to operate at a loss until they become eligible for extended hours.

Local hotels in residential areas will be limited to 10pm closing as a base, with extensions possible up to midnight.

Applications in localities outside these areas will be considered ‘on their merit’ according to existing Control Plans.

The recent smoking bans have seen a trend to more outdoor entertainment areas. These have greater potential to impact on nearby residents. Outdoor areas will therefore have reduced ‘base’ hours and may have extra restrictions, subject to a management plan and acoustic reports.

The issue is a hot one in NSW with debate raging among anti-pub campaigners and residents, a giant liquor industry fat on poker machine profits which also makes large donations to the major political parties, and musicians who say onerous entertainment licences are killing live music in Sydney.

Balancing these interests was never going to be easy and each faction in the debate has criticised aspects of the draft plan.

Nevertheless the plan does give the City better tools to manage conflicts and the encouragement of smaller, more intimate venues has received wide support.

Some critics have pointed out that these smaller venues will remain unviable in NSW because of state licensing controls which require Social Impact Statements to be drafted before a licence is granted. These have to be compiled by consultants and are very complicated and expensive. They have the effect of entrenching the bigger players who can afford the process.

State regulations also tightly restrict the seating, design and layout of restaurants which want to also provide liquor without an accompanying meal.

While these state regulations may limit the proliferation of licensed premises, they also protect the big end of the liquor trade − the very sector that donates to the major parties.

Cynics may also take the view that smaller venues without poker machines are of less interest to a State Government addicted to taxes levied on these gambling machines.

If you have read this far you are probably interested enough to comment on the draft DCP and/or write a letter to the Racing and Gaming Minister Graham West about the state issues (West.office@west.minister.nsw.gov.au).

The draft DCP is available on Council’s website.