The Last Rites Bar to press ahead in Yamba despite police concerns

New venue, overwhelmingly supported by the public, will go ahead despite police concerns.

An artist's impression of the Last Rites Bar in Yamba.

A new bar and live music venue in Yamba was given the green light on Thursday despite misgivings by a number of councillors and the Coffs/Clarence Police.

The new venue was overwhelmingly supported by the community with more than 40 public submissions in favour of allowing The Last Rights Bar to be established at 2/4 Yamba St.

Despite concerns about the addition of another bar in the small coastal town, Cr Peter Ellem was confident the safeguards contained in the conditions, and the actions the applicants had taken to mitigate against anti-social behaviour, were adequate.

“It’s a small low-key venue (and) there is a lot of community support for it,” he said.

“The performing arts has been one of the hardest hit sectors during Covid and I think anything we can do to get them playing again and put money in their pockets is a good thing.”

It was a sentiment not shared by Cr Debrah Novak who said there were already plenty of venues in town which could host live music.

NSW Police say Yamba has a high density of licensed venues.

Ms Novak said as a local resident she had already experienced the “nightmare” of living close to licensed venues and couldn’t support another one being created, especially so close to a caravan park.

“Not a weekend goes by where someone is not either vomiting, urinating, fighting or yelling at the top of that hill,” she said.

Before the DA was passed councillors made a last-minute change to the conditions of the approval, raising the maximum number of patrons to 75. The number was raised from the 50-person limit as recommended by council staff but still sat well below the 120-person limit requested by the applicant.

Earlier, Licensing Sergeant Peter Saunders had outlined the Coffs/Clarence Police’s concerns in a letter to council ahead of the decision. He said the addition of the new bar would increase the density of liquor outlets in a town which was already high.

The state average for all licensed venues per 100k people is 195 and in Yamba it is 510.

He also highlighted the impact the new venue could have on alcohol related crime.

“The impact of alcohol related crime in the Yamba and Lower Rivers Police sector is above the state average in relation (to) all incidents, particularly assaults and domestic violence,” he said.