New live music precincts protected against noise restrictions in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda will be created after Port Phillip City Council passed a new four-year Live Music Action Plan.
The plan, first canvassed in early 2020 and passed unanimously at a council meeting last night (April 21), will see the local council preference music venues over other kinds of development, protect them from demolition and place the onus on any new development near a venue to install their own noise insulation.
The council will work with Music Victoria to identify these new precincts governed by the plan, wherever there are one or more venues in a particular area such as the St Kilda Esplanade (The Espy, Palais Theatre, Memo Music Hall, etc). The new conditions additionally extend to the development of any new music venues, generating a precinct.
The plan is modelled on that instituted by Brisbane City Council in Fortitude Valley in 2006, which saw the development of new venues. Port Phillip’s plan is a Victorian first.
In November last year, the NSW state government passed a series of changes to the regulation of live music in the state, including longer trading hours and license discounts. They also committed to establishing new cultural and entertainment precincts, in addition to temporary measures allowing for the reappropriation of outdoor spaces for performances while social distancing restrictions remain in place.