Emerald Downs: Golf club’s booze application knocked-back by liquor authority

The state’s liquor, gaming and racing authority has refused an application for an on-premises liquor licence at Emerald Downs Golf Club.

Emerald Downs Golf Course

Two directors of a private Port Macquarie golf club say they will review, and possibly appeal a decision made by the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, (OLGR) to reject a liquor license for the 18-hole Emerald Downs Golf Club.

The club’s application for a Primary Service Authorisation (PSA), in addition to an on-premises licence for the entire golf course comprising the clubhouse, course, practice green and point-of-sale carts, was knocked back by NSW OLGR.

The regulator cited concerns over the course’s size, it’s proximity to nearby homes and existing liquor outlets.

The decision also noted about seven letters lodged in objection to the proposal, following a mandatory public consultation process the club went through in order to comply with the application requirements.

The masterplan for the Emerald Downs Golf Course and Residential Estate

Most of these objections were lodged by nearby residents, including one which the golf club directors say was responsible for authorising a local community campaign urging people to lodge submissions objecting to it.

NSW OLGR manager of licensing Nicola Taylor said responsible service of alcohol could be compromised by allowing on-course drinking to be conducted within a semi-residential location and within such a large area.

“The course is situated on an area comprising 48.3 Ha (118 acres) of land where monitoring the amount and type of alcohol a person or group have consumed on the course creates a risk with respect to responsible service of alcohol and the potential for alcohol related harm to oneself or others,” she said.

“It is considered that if the whole of the golf course was to be licenced, the area is too large to be safely monitored.

“It would be difficult and problematic to monitor patrons and prevent alcohol intoxication or impending intoxication and therefore the ability to monitor consumption patterns for an area of significant size would be diminished.

“I am therefore not satisfied that that all reasonable steps can be taken to prevent intoxication on the premises and that those practices will remain in place, in line with S45 3 (b) of the Liquor Act 2007.”

Emerald Downs Residential Estate

Emerald Downs Golf Club managing director, Ashley Roods, said he was surprised at the decision given the considerable amount of public golf clubs which permit on-course drinking.

“We are a little bit surprised with why our golf course has been refused when Port and Wauchope are allowed to have alcohol on their courses,” he said.

“They [OLGR] talk about concerns relating to future major developments and rezoning, but these are matters for council rather than a liquor licensing issue.

“They talk about a motel and a restaurant. Again, that would be a matter for council ... I am surprised that they brought that into consideration.

“We have no gaming facilities in that clubhouse so there’s no reason for people to stay longer than the time it takes to play golf.”

Nicola Taylor. Picture: Linkedin

As part of the public consultation, the club was required to letter box drop about 175 houses within the Emerald Downs Residential Estate.

“We did a letterbox drop of 175 roughly, both sides of the perimeter of the golf course,” Mr Roods’ son, Brendan Roods, said.

“Of that letterbox drop, we had about seven objections, and one which was more of a request.

“There was a gentleman who was going around with a flyer and handing that out to residents asking them to object to it, and a lot of the information in that flyer was incorrect information.

“We found a lot of the information that came back in the objections contained much of the same false information in that letter that was dropped around the place.

“We did invite this person to come down to run him through these things but still to this day he hasn’t come down.”

“It’s definitely surprising, we are definitely larger in area than Wauchope Golf Course but Port golf course is much larger than us.

“It is also definitely a surprise that we have been knocked back on not being able to monitor patrons properly.”

Emerald Downs Golf Course

The club initially sought to apply for an on-premises license to be able to serve alcohol to players only.

“We went down that avenue, but after having a chat with the local liquor accord they advised us that we should be looking at a Primary Service Authorisation as well,” Brendan Roods said.

“The reasons being that if you went out to play golf, and say your partner came to pick you up and decided to have a drink, because they didn’t play golf, we would be in breach without that Primary Service Authorisation.

“That was the reason why we went with that.

“Even for charity days where we have volunteers working on course … they wouldn’t be able to have a beverage either. We were just trying to cover all bases so that we wouldn’t be in breach.

“This is really only another service that we are trying to offer our members and visitors.

“We wouldn’t want to offer anything here that we wouldn’t want for ourselves. I’m in the process of putting in my own personal house DA and I’ll be living just up the road from the club.

“We’ll follow them [Liquor and Gaming] up and get a bit of clarification on it.”

Emerald Downs Golf Course

The determination noted that the public submissions raised concerns with noise generated by the proposed venue and the saturation of licensed venues already in the immediate area.

Police have confirmed the venue is close to a residential area and would not support a venue where the public could potentially use the venue in the same manner as a hotel for consumption of alcohol.

Taking into consideration the views of relevant stakeholders and other aspects of the local community in which the proposed licensed premises are to be located, Ms Taylor said: “I am not satisfied that the overall impact of the licence, authorisation or approval in question being granted will not be detrimental to the local or broader community, as per 48(5) of the Liquor Act 2007.”

She said Liquor and Gaming NSW would be more inclined to approve the application for an on-premises liquor licence, if the license boundary was curtailed to two outdoor areas along the course in addition to the clubhouse and if the Primary Service Authorisation was withdrawn.

“The applicant confirmed that they did not consent to this and requested the application proceed based on the current assessment.”