Local councils will be forced to review new “vibrancy guidelines” when assessing trading hour applications by remote venues in a bid by the NSW government to put an end to complaining residents derailing local nightlife.
The NSW cabinet passed the reforms late on Monday, after the Herald reported the Northern Beaches Council had rejected an application by The Joey, a newly rebuilt waterside restaurant in Palm Beach, to trade after 4pm because seven residents who lived at least 600 metres away were concerned about possible noise.
The Joey at Palm Beach, in Sydney’s north.Credit: Alex Marks
The rejection sparked widespread outcry, drawing the ire of Premier Chris Minns, who said he was “worried” and “pretty troubled” by the council’s decision earlier this year. He and Nighttime Economy Minister John Graham met with co-owners and prominent restaurateurs Ben May and Rob Domjen in April to come to a solution.
The bill will require a consent authority (in most situations local councils) to consider guidelines set by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to ensure decisions are consistent with the state government’s vibrancy reforms.
It will apply to new applications to change or extend trading hours of food and drink venues beyond 7pm, but it will apply only when the business is not located within a residential zone or a special entertainment precinct and is at least 500 metres away from the nearest home.
Graham described the changes as “common sense”, saying they would bring balance to the assessment process.
Ben May and Rob Domjen met Premier Chris Minns at the government’s Martin Place offices last month.Credit: Steven Siewert
“We have listened to the community as a whole and this proposed reform should send a clear signal to local authorities that they need to strike the right balance between legitimate concerns over local amenity and the imperative to encourage businesses to trade and communities everywhere in NSW to have more options after dark,” he said.
Minns said the change would better balance the “legitimate concerns regarding local amenity” and the benefits bars and restaurants bring to the community.
“A very small number of complaints knocking over restaurants and bars that support countless jobs and provide wonderful things to do in our state isn’t acceptable,” he said
The three staff members on the Northern Beaches Council panel rejected The Joey’s application for extended hours on the basis that “an increase in operating hours and the inevitable increase in functions, noise traffic and other amenity issues resulting from these extended hours [did] not meet the requirement to be of minimal environmental impact”.
The decision was made after seven people of a total of 132 submissions had written against the proposal. Standing between the venue and the residents was a nine-hole golf course.
When the decision was handed down, co-owner May declared his relaunched restaurant to be “dead in the water” because it would need to shut early, ultimately costing jobs.
“The Joey is somewhere with world-class views, for locals to enjoy and take people from overseas. It’s a blow for employment, for young people. People won’t even be able to watch the sunset,” he said.
May and Domjen were contacted for comment.
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