Noise complaints against pubs and live music venues to be overhauled in NSW

Pubs and live music venues will be saved from whining neighbours with a raft of new laws meaning a single complainant won’t be enough to get an establishment shut down.

Pubs and live music venues will be saved from whining neighbours with a raft of new laws meaning a single complainant won’t be enough to get an establishment shut down, under major changes aimed at saving the city’s flailing night-life.

Instead five separate complainants would have to protest about the same issue at the same venue for a complaint to be progressed, part of a swathe of changes the NSW Government will implement before summer.

The number of regulatory bodies which accept noise complaints will also be slashed from seven to one, with Liquor and Gaming the lead agency handling all noise-related complaints across the state – stripping the responsibility from other organisations like councils, the police and the Environmental Protection Agency.

New ‘order of occupancy’ rules will also be beefed up – meaning complaints from NIMBYs who move near hundred-year-old pubs and live music venues will be given less weight.

NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns and Minister John Graham at the announcement of a a live music initiative at the Lansdowne Hotel in Chippendale earlier this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

The statewide package, helmed by NSW’s first ever music and night-time economy Minister John Graham, also includes a change to standard operating hours – meaning licensed venues can stay open for two hours later on Sundays.

While standard trading hours on a Sunday currently run until 10pm, the changes will streamline applications allowing venues to stay open to midnight.

Minister Graham said the changes would end the “NSW sport of a single neighbour (with) serial complaints” shutting down venues.

“As a government we know we need to change the laws in this state to value music, to value creativity, to support community and to bring back vibrancy,” he said.

“We need to change the rules in the planning and liquor laws to save the music and cultural venues we have, and to build more.”

NSW’s first Minister for Music and the Night Time Economy John Graham. Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney

“We especially need to change the rules for sound and noise complaints that allow a single neighbour to make serial complaints to close a long running venue they have just moved in next to.”

The changes will also see strict regulations around alfresco dining relaxed, with venues able to apply through a new streamlined process to get access to permanent outdoor dining.

Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully said it meant “pubs, cafes, bars, and restaurants won’t have to submit a detailed development application – just a faster and more cost-effective complying development certificate”.

“We made an election commitment to make outdoor dining permanently available across NSW, supporting the hospitality sector and boosting the economy and we are delivering it,” he said.

Gaming and racing Minister David Harris added: “Our reforms slash red tape and streamline processes so businesses can focus on what’s important – delivering a great experience for their customers”.