NSW Special Entertainment Precinct Guidelines (The Guidelines) aim to:

• Help councils plan strategically for SEPs and partner with local communities to create quality place-based and diverse going out districts which support live performance
• Explain each of the mandatory steps to establish, operate, suspend or revoke a SEP.

Councils will be required to act in accordance with the Guidelines.

Read the Draft NSW Special Entertainment Precinct Guidelines

NSW Special Entertainment Precinct Acoustic Toolkit: Optional Sound Guidance and Templates for Councils (the Acoustic Toolkit):

• Provides supporting guidance for sound management in SEPs, including optional model sound requirements for different types of development that can be tailored to local environments.

The Acoustic Toolkit will not be mandatory for councils to follow and is intended to act as an optional guide.

Read the NSW Special Entertainment Precinct Acoustic Toolkit: Optional Sound Guidance and Templates for Councils

The Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner is also preparing supplementary resources to support Councils in the management of a SEP to be published with the Guidelines later this year. This will include:

• A Handbook with best practice advice on the establishment, operation, revocation and suspension of a SEP, and strategic considerations for precinct selection.
• Templates for a precinct management plan and planning proposal, text for a Standard Instrument LEP map, DCP clauses, planning certificate, and a precinct working group terms of reference, and scope of works for an acoustic consultant.
• A sample communication plan for councils and communication templates including letters and surveys to business and community.

To help create and support more night-time districts, the NSW Government will also provide a Special Entertainment Precinct Support Hub for councils interested in establishing a SEP.

Special Entertainment Precincts (SEPs) are defined under the Local Government Act 1993 and are designated areas or streetscapes in which a council can set the trading hours and sound conditions to support live music and performances and provide greater certainty for businesses and residents in the precinct.

This lets councils more easily support live music and performance in the precinct and provide operational certainty for venues, neighbouring residents and businesses.

A Special Entertainment Precinct includes the following enablers and incentives:

• Potentially more favourable sound conditions and trading hours to support live performance
• Registered live music and performance venues can get an additional 2 hours of trading on nights when 45min of performance is hosted after 8pm, and in a SEP 1 hour on all other nights. This is more than live music venues can access outside of SEPs
• Clearer sound guidance: since 1 July 2024, Liquor & Gaming NSW manages entertainment sound complaints for licensed premises, and a higher threshold is applied in the assessment of a complaint in a SEP
• Any development conditions that are inconsistent with the trading hours and sound requirements set in a precinct management plan cease to have effect
• Offensive noise provisions do not apply in a SEP and are replaced by the sound standards in the council’s precinct management plan
• Strengthened governance arrangements to support safety and collaboration in a precinct
• Incoming residents are notified of a SEP on a website or planning certificates.

Local councils are responsible for identifying and establishing SEPs.

A local council identifies a SEP by publishing a precinct management plan, created in consultation with community, businesses and government, on their website and amending its Local Environmental Plan (LEP) through a planning proposal submitted to the Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure.

In some circumstances and at the request of a council, the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces may amend a LEP through a State Environmental Planning Policy.

The Guidelines are primarily intended for local councils, which must act in accordance with them when establishing, operating, suspending and/or revoking a SEP.

The Guidelines may also be used by:

• businesses and venues operating (or considering operating) in a SEP or seeking to advocate for a SEP in their area
• developers considering projects within or in proximity to SEPs, particularly for sound-sensitive projects
• residents living within or adjacent to SEPs
• members of the community interested in SEPs.

The Guidelines identify the mandatory steps to establishing, operating, suspending or revoking a SEP (including a precinct or single premises), under section 202 and 203 of the Local Government Act.

The Guidelines include the following information about SEPs:

• How to use the guidelines and how they apply
• About Special Entertainment Precincts
• Key principles of Special Entertainment Precincts
• Definition of key terms
• Legislation
• Summary of sound management and trading hours in a SEP
• Steps and process for establishing a SEP:
  • Step 1: Establishing a SEP
  • Step 2: Operating and monitoring the SEP
  • Step 3: Suspending or revoking the SEP

Yes, councils must act in accordance with the Guidelines under Section 203 of the Local Government Act 1993.

The Act states that the Minister for Local Government may publish guidelines about the establishment, operation, revocation or suspension of special entertainment precincts.

The Acoustic Toolkit is optional and primarily intended for councils to assist in the development of the sound management for a SEP. It is mandatory for councils to develop sound criteria for a SEP to be included in a precinct management plan.

The Acoustic Toolkit is an optional technical resource that supplements the Guidelines with detailed information on sound management. It aims to help local councils develop the sound criteria required as part of a precinct management plan (PMP). It includes:

• an overview of considerations and approach to developing sound criteria for a SEP
• the aims and objectives of the SEP/s, along with key principles that inform the development of criteria and requirements.
• definition of optional quantitative sound criteria for different development types and development controls included in a precinct management plan that relate to sound-emitting uses (emitters) and sensitive-receiver development (receivers) for areas within and around a SEP/s.
• requirements and procedures adopted for development applications.
• approach to assessing development compliance and responding to complaints about noise impact.

The Acoustic Toolkit is an optional technical resource. It includes example sound controls for different development types that councils can, with specialist advice, adapt to suit the specific conditions of each precinct. Alternatively, councils can commission specialist advice to start from scratch and prepare a set of sound controls for their precinct.

However, it is mandatory for councils to develop sound criteria for a SEP and include in a precinct management plan. Step 1.5 of the SEP guidelines requires councils to:

• prepare a place-based sound management framework to regulate sound from both licensed and unlicensed premises and ensure that new development is designed to mitigate sound from a single premises or SEP.
• include the sound management framework for a SEP (or single premises), in the precinct management plan and a council’s Development Control Plan to accord it more statutory weight.
• consult with and obtain feedback from L&GNSW during the preparation of the sound requirements to ensure that the SEP requirements align with L&GNSW’s assessment framework for managing complaints from licensed premises.