Engaging with Sydneysiders around the nightlife they want

City of Sydney Council

Review of the Late Night Trading Premises in the City of Sydney consultation

Lock out laws, increasing density, impact of noise on neighbours, and Sydney’s declining night life have been vexing issues over the past decade. Global cities like Sydney need a thriving, diverse and safe nightlife for everyone and the night-time economy can bring economic, social and cultural benefits.

In early 2018, Cred led a team of consultants on engagement with Sydneysiders about their views on where and when late-night trading should happen in the City of Sydney local government area. We heard from over 10,000 people, including residents, visitors, industry and other stakeholders – and the results indicated a keen desire for hours and areas to increase and expand and for new precincts to be created.

A preview of Cred's Late Night Trading engagement plan

Late night trading communications and engagement plan for the City of Sydney

Services
  • Communications
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Team

JOC Consulting; Lateral Research

How we did it 

We collaborated with JOC Consulting and Lateral Research to deliver a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan to strengthen the capability for the ongoing delivery of the City of Sydney Council’s OPEN Sydney Strategy and Action Plan.

Working with subconsultants Micromex Research and JOC Consulting to design and deliver a multi-faceted engagement program, our approach aimed to test: 

  • community satisfaction with existing late-night areas and operating hours closing times
  • whether the community had appetite for new, or changes to, current boundaries of late-night trading areas and operating hours for late-night premises
  • what types of late-night trading the community wants and where.

The outcome

An unprecedented 10,000+ people engaged positively and enthusiastically in the engagement process, which provided a clear direction for Council’s changes to their late-night trading controls. 

Council’s updated controls, which regulate trading hours and areas for businesses opening at night in the city, including bars, cafes, restaurants, shops and entertainment and music venues that stay open later than 10pm, were adopted in 2019. They include new and extended trading areas, changes to hours, and will encourage more diverse trading. This is a great outcome for Sydney’s night-life that will attract a wide range of people and help create a more balanced and safe night-time economy for the future.

Read more about the City of Sydney’s plan for culture and the night-time economy here.