A Special Entertainment Precinct is a defined area, streetscape or single venue where sound from venues with amplified music are set by a council in a precinct management plan.

When the reforms to the SEP framework are fully implemented in mid-2024, trading hours of venues in a SEP will also be included in precinct management plans.

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

A local council identifies a precinct by publishing a precinct management plan on their website to seek community feedback and amending its Local Environment Plan (LEP). 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.