Business trading beyond the lockdowns

City of Sydney

: GPO Box 1591
Sydney 2001
: 02 9265 9333
: [email protected]

As our city reawakens, let’s all work together

The pandemic and extended lockdown has greatly impacted Sydney, resulting in the city losing its hustle and bustle.

As we welcome back locals, workers and visitors, this hustle and bustle will start to return.

While we’re excited for the city to come to life once again, we also understand this may be a challenging time for some residents. Noise from nearby venues, particularly in areas where patrons will now be permitted to dine and drink outside, will increase.

We ask our residents for patience and to support local businesses to slowly recover so our city can thrive once again.

Maintaining harmonious and vibrant neighbourhoods

We all want to live and work in harmonious and vibrant neighbourhoods. Help reduce night-time impacts on your neighbours by connecting early, getting to know each other and working together to manage night-time sound.

We recommend you:

follow the Night Time Industries Association’s handy tips to engage neighbours early
if you and a neighbour cannot resolve an issue together, we can help to mediate – find out about our approach to managing noise complaints and the temporary measures in place to make doing business easier and safer after lockdown
download the Night Time Industries Association’s Let’s Hear It! campaign posters, stickers, mailers and digital assets to help communicate with your patrons and neighbours

Changes to help flexible trading

If you run a cafe, restaurant, bar or pub in the City of Sydney local area there are a number of planning regulation changes now in place to make doing business easier and safer after lockdown.

Changes include:

free outdoor dining permits until 30 June 2023
approved outdoor dining areas must have food service available
approved outdoor dining areas may have patrons seated or standing at cocktails tables to consume food or drink
outdoor dining furniture must be stored inside premises overnight. Venues with later internal trading hours can stack and secure outdoor furniture in their allocated space until closing.
businesses in the city centre can apply to host live entertainment in their outdoor dining areas
theatres, music venues and galleries can apply to use footpath space and other public land as foyer space
more flexible hours for retail deliveries and waste collection
health orders that encourage more open windows to help ventilation

These NSW Government and City of Sydney changes may contribute to increased noise levels across our city. The resources below aim to help businesses foster better understanding and tolerance with residential neighbours.

Our approach to managing noise complaints

We will continue to take a risk-based approach to compliance, assessing any issues against the health, safety and welfare of the community.

To aid economic recovery, current NSW regulations allow for some exemptions from development consent requirements. The table below summarises these exemptions.

We encourage businesses to proactively engage with your neighbours to establish ongoing dialogue to enable quick action to resolve any complaints when they occur.

Where possible, we will work with venues to try and resolve noise or other problems without taking regulatory action. Employees from our cultural, planning and health and building teams are available to meet with venue operators to work through issues raised in complaints and negotiate solutions.

If the same noise complaint is reported repeatedly by the same person, and our authorised employees assess that a specific noise is not deemed to be offensive under the law, we will not take further action.

Note, we do not threaten venues with closure in relation to noise complaints – under the NSW Protection of the Environment Operations Act, potential options include verbal or written warnings, prevention notices, noise abatement directions, penalty infringement notices, orders or court attendance notices.

Questions and answers

We will continue to take a risk-based approach to compliance, using discretion in dealing with complaints while ensuring the health, safety and welfare of the community. But it’s important businesses continue to comply with development consent conditions and other acts and regulations.

To help recovery, current NSW planning regulations provide some exemptions from development consent requirements.
City of Sydney employees will demonstrate a level of flexibility and discretion, based on individual circumstances.

In responding to a complaint, City of Sydney employees will discuss the nature of the complaint with the complainant. If there is no imminent or serious risk of injury or harm, we will encourage the complainant to contact the business directly, if they have not already attempted to do so.

Where a complaint is verified and there is a need to attend or contact a business, City of Sydney employees will discuss the nature of the complaint with the business operator and provide advice to achieve compliance, where required.

Enforcement may be required for matters resulting in an imminent and serious risk of injury or harm, or where a business fails to respond to repeated advice from City of Sydney employees.

Covid-19 response measures

Complaints might include businesses operating without the required approval, not complying with conditions of approval or where activities associated with business operations cause health, safety or amenity issues.

The activity listed below is permitted with the appropriate permits and planning approval.

Potential noise source	Temporary changes
Footpath dining/outdoor entertainment	Extended issue of City of Sydney’s outdoor dining and entertainment permits (Central Sydney only) trial for restaurants, bars and clubs to extend operating capacity
Retail trading hours	Extended hours, as part of changes to planning regulations
Takeaway facility operations	More flexible conditions including food and drink takeaway, food truck operations and dark kitchens
Retail deliveries and waste collection	Extended hours, as part of changes to planning regulations
Vehicle sanitation stations	Allow for temporary stations to be built to provide professional cleaning for taxis, ride share and community transport vehicles

A group of adults sitting at an outdoor dining table.

Business permits, approvals & tendersApply for outdoor dining approval

People entering the foyer of the Eternity Playhouse.

Business permits, approvals & tendersApply to use footpaths and other public land as foyer space

Development applicationsMake changes to a development application after the City of Sydney has given approval

Business trading beyond the lockdowns

City of Sydney

As our city reawakens, let’s all work together

Maintaining harmonious and vibrant neighbourhoods

Changes to help flexible trading

Our approach to managing noise complaints

Questions and answers

What is the City of Sydney’s position on enforcing development consent conditions?

How will the City of Sydney respond to complaints about businesses?

What if the NSW planning regulations allow my business to do something that does not comply with my development consent?

I’m not sure of the NSW planning regulations. How can I find more information?

Will the NSW Police be taking a similar approach to the City of Sydney in enforcing development consent conditions?

Public health advice suggests we keep our doors and windows open to reduce transmission of Covid-19. But a development application condition requires them to be closed at a certain time. What happens if I leave them open and receive a complaint about noise?

How can I modify an existing development consent condition?

More information

Covid-19 response measures