The Cronulla Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP) initiative seeks to allow town centre locals to enjoy the benefits of living alongside a vibrant night-time economy, while putting in place reasonable amenity safeguards.
For many decades, Cronulla has attracted locals and visitors can easily access a wide variety of retail and hospitality businesses.
This also means that, like many other town centres, it does generate noise.
The SEP initiative seeks to get the balance right, through a Precinct Management Plan which outlines trading hours, entertainment-related sound controls, venue obligations and roles and responsibilities for different agencies and stakeholders.
It’s about mutual respect and everyone trying to get along together.
This web page has been established to help residents to understand how the SEP works, and what they can do if they think the rules are being breached.
Talk to the venue first
As part of the Cronulla SEP initiative, we’re asking residents to talk to venues first, before lodging complaints.
This one-page sheet explaining who residents can contact for a range of issues explains more.
In addition, we’re asking businesses to place good neighbour notices outside their premises so that residents know who to call.
Below are frequently asked questions which may be useful for residents.
Frequently asked questions
COMPLAINTS
Before you make a noise complaint, you must try talking to the business manager or licensee to first resolve the issue.
This is often the most effective and fastest way to resolve a noise disturbance issue.
We've asked licensed venues to place notices outside their premises, containing contact details, to allow these discussions to take place.
In addition, you may be able to find out contact details about a licensed business at this link.
However, if you've contacted the business, and think it is continuing to breach its noise limits in the Precinct Management Plan, then you can lodge a noise complaint with Liquor and Gaming NSW
Liquor and Gaming NSW has outlined the process for noise complaints, including a complaint form, how it assesses these complaints and the potential outcomes of the complaints, at this web page.
No. Liquor and Gaming NSW does not provide real‑time responses to noise complaints.
However:
- The complaints portal is open 24 hours a day; and
- Liquor and Gaming NSW regularly undertakes regular inspection activities over a broad range of days and times, including evenings and weekends.
Furthermore, if there are immediate or serious disturbances, including public safety issues, the matter can be raised with NSW Police, who may be in a position to take immediate action and help resolve a noise or disturbance issue.
Yes, Liquor and Gaming NSW is appropriately resourced to perform this role, applying a risk based, intelligence led approach that prioritises higher risk matters and targets the most serious and persistent non-compliance incidents.
Compared to a noise complaint, a statutory disturbance complaint in a Special Entertainment Precinct is a more serious matter.
A statutory disturbance complaint is that the quiet and good order of the neighbourhood is being unreasonably disturbed, after having regard to the Precinct Management Plan for the Special Entertainment Precinct, due to the way the licensed business is conducted or the behaviour of people after they leave the venue, including anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related violence.
A statutory disturbance complaint may only be made by:
- Five or more persons who live or work in the neighbourhood who are not part of the same household/business and have attempted to address the complaint directly with the venue.
- NSW Police
- A person or organisation who can demonstrate that they should be allowed to make the complaint because it is severe or in the public interest.
Liquor & Gaming NSW will not accept a statutory disturbance complaint if:
- There has been no attempt to resolve the issue directly with venue.
- No previous reports of disturbance for the venue have been made to Liquor & Gaming NSW.
Find out more information about statutory disturbance complaints at this web page.
Sutherland Shire Council is responsible for any sound complaints which are not related to entertainment-related activity from licensed premises.
See more information on Council’s noise pollution web page.
SOUNDS LIMITS
The Precinct Management Plan (PMP) outlines the sound limits which venues need to meet in relation to entertainment-related sound as it impacts nearby sensitive receivers (including residential unit blocks).
Entertainment-related sound includes sound coming from:
- Live or recorded music, activities such as karaoke, trivia, bingo and comedy
- Functions and food and drink services.
- Staff announcements
- Sound caused by patrons on the premises.
It also covers sound from people as they are entering or exiting, and adjacent to, the premises on which the activities are being carried out.
The sound limits apply either at the lot boundary of sensitive receivers (or 1.5m above the floor level at facade windows / balconies for multi-storey receiver buildings).
Some limits also apply to sound generated from a commercial tenancy travelling within a mixed-use development (such as a sound from a ground floor bar potentially affecting apartments in the same building).
The PMP’s sound limits override sound conditions in an existing development consent, liquor licence or a venue-specific Plan of Management.
Residents are not expected to know whether the venue is breaching its sound limits.
They can lodge a complaint if the noise is disturbing them, and Liquor and Gaming will investigate.
As mentioned, we request you first discuss the issue with the venue, including if necessary through using the contact details which should be available on the venue’s Good Neighbour Notice or website.
However, if you still want to lodge a sound complaint about a licensed venue, more information is available on the Liquor & Gaming NSW website.
Information about complaints about other issues is available at this contact sheet.
Mobile phones records real-time sound monitoring, which may or may not be accurate.
The sound limits in the Precinct Management Plan however represent the average sound which is created during a 15-minute period.
This means that it is possible that individual noise events within this 15-minute period are higher than the publicised limit.
These events (such as patrons entering or exiting the venue) will contribute towards the 15-minute result.
It also means that mobile phones cannot be relied on to produce noise monitoring data which aligns with the Precinct Management Plan’s sound limits.
Council engaged a specialist acoustic consultant to prepare the sound limits. The following was considered in developing the limits:
- The measured sound levels of the existing acoustic environment and venue operations
- The locations of existing and approved (but not operational) venues and noise sensitive receiver developments.
These sound limits carefully balance the needs of businesses and residents for different times of the day and week.
The use of fixed sound limits also provides certainty and transparency to businesses and residents.
TRADING HOURS
Trading hours represent when a business starts or ceases trading, including serving alcohol or playing music.
The Precinct Management Plan (PMP) defines maximum trading hours for all relevant businesses within the SEP boundary.
These trading hours are listed below.
Day of week | Indoor | Outdoor |
Weekday (Sunday to Thursday) | 6am-midnight | 6am-11pm |
Weekend (Friday, Saturday and the day before a public holiday) | 6am-2am | 6am-11pm |
Existing venues may operate within these hours without lodging a new development application when they comply with entertainment-related activity sound limits in the PMP.
Venues seeking to extend alcohol service hours must still obtain approval through the liquor licensing system.
If a venue already has approval to trade later than the hours proposed under the PMP, it may continue to do so. Businesses may also lodge a development application to seek trading hours beyond those set out in the PMP.
The sound limits will mean that, in some lower activation areas closer to existing homes, businesses may be unlikely to use the above hours because they will not be able to stay within the sound limits.
You can check a venue’s liquor licence controls at this link. If you believe a licensed venue is breaching its liquor licence conditions, including its licensed trading hours, you can contact Liquor & Gaming.
If you believe a venue is trading later than the maximum trading hours outlined in the Precinct Management Plan, on an existing development consent (whichever is later), Sutherland Shire Council will be responsible for monitoring whether businesses are adhering to their trading hours, and fielding and acting on complaints on this issue. Contact Council at this link.
You can search for information about a business’s existing development consent at our application tracker.