Community Impact Statements (CIS)

You must include a CIS with the papers you lodge to L&GNSW when you apply for certain types of liquor licences or authorisations.

• a hotel licence
• a club licence
• some small bar licences
• most packaged liquor licences
• most on-premises licences for public entertainment venues
• most extended trading authorisations
• most licence removals to other premises
• an application to increase the licence boundaries – if the original licence application required a community impact statement, or a community impact statement would currently be required for an application of this type, and the change of boundaries application is for a substantial increase in the scale of the premises (greater than 50%).

Different types of liquor licence applications require different types of CIS. There are two types of CIS:

1. Category A
2. Category B

Category A CIS is for:

• a packaged liquor licence limited to the sale or supply of alcohol via phone, fax, mail order or online
• the removal of the above licence to other premises
• extended trading for an on-premises licence – if the authorisation allows the liquor sales on a Sunday between 5am and 10am or between 10pm and midnight. This doesn't include sales to residents of the licensed premises and their guests
• a primary service authorisation under the Liquor Act 2007. For example, where a restaurant wants to sell liquor without meals
• any other application where ILGA thinks there is potential for community harm.

Apply: Category A community impact statement form PDF, 778.28 KB

Category B CIS is for:

• a packaged liquor licence – such as a bottle shop or retail liquor store
• a hotel licence
• a club licence
• a small bar licence – an exemption applies where development consent is required and notice is provided to the local police and Secretary of the Department of Customer Service within two days of the development application being lodged with council. The exemption does not apply in cases where you wish to trade between 02:00AM - 05:00AM and a CISB is still required in these circumstances.
• an on-premises licence for a public entertainment venue other than a cinema or a theatre
• extended trading for each of the above licences (for 02:00AM - 05:00AM only, for small bars)
• an application to remove each of the above licences to other premises
• an extended trading authorisation for an on-premises licence if the authorisation allows liquor sales at any time between midnight and 5am
• extended trading for a producer/wholesaler licence – if the authorisation allows liquor sales by retail between midnight and 5am. This doesn't include sales to residents of the licensed premises and their guests
• an application to increase the licence boundaries – if the original licence application required a community impact statement, or a community impact statement would currently be required for an application of this type, and the change of boundaries application is for a substantial increase in the scale of the premises (greater than 50%)
• any other application where ILGA thinks there is potential for community harm.

Apply: Category B community impact statement form PDF, 943.12 KB

Preparing your CIS

You must complete your CIS before lodging your application. This process takes at least 30 days to complete.

There are three steps to planning a CIS:

• Step 1 Notify the community
• Step 2 Gather feedback and arrange further consultation
• Step 3 Prepare your CIS

Provide written notice to stakeholders and invite feedback

Written notice is usually distributed by via mail or letterbox drop.

• You need to make all relevant stakeholders in your community aware of the application you are proposing – you can also use this as an opportunity to invite feedback from them (see Step 2).
• All stakeholders who receive the written notice must be provided with 30 days from the date of the notice to respond
• You must also display a copy of the written notice on the premises the proposal relates to. It must remain there for at least 30 days before the CIS is finalised.

You can create your own flyer or letter for notifying local community or you can use the following template.

Download: Notice of intention to apply for liquor licence or authorisation

Stakeholders you must notify

All stakeholders notified must be given 30 days to respond (from the date of the notice).

The main difference between Category A and B CIS is that CIS B applications must notify a broader group of community stakeholders.

Engagement tools

Written format

The written notice is your first opportunity to invite feedback. Stakeholders may respond by email or mail, or they may provide feedback over the phone.

• Prepare the notice and distribute to stakeholders – usually via mail or a letterbox drop. You may wish to encourage personal engagement by using a covering letter. The more personal your communication is, the higher level of engagement you can expect.
• This method does not require face-to-face consultation and primarily informs the community of the liquor licence proposal.
• An online form or campaign site can be established with a dedicated email address so stakeholders can provide electronic feedback
• Stakeholders must be given 30 days from the date of the notice to respond

Considerations

• This approach is mostly inexpensive allowing wide participation and information-sharing
• Time to prepare content for distribution
• Response time from stakeholders.

Once the 30 day notice period has concluded, your next steps are to:

1. gather feedback
2. identify key issues
3. assess if further consultation is required.

Questions to consider when reviewing stakeholder responses:

• What were the main issues raised?
• What were the negative responses to the proposal?
• What were the positive responses to the proposal?
• What issues needed further discussion, and how strongly did stakeholders feel about these issues?
• Were similar or recurring issues raised by different stakeholders?
• Have any ongoing relationships been established between the applicant and stakeholders that may help resolve future issues as they arise?
• Have any ideas been developed as a result of the consultation, and will changes be made to the proposed application as a result of the stakeholder feedback?

Community concerns and benefits

People may have concerns about:

• disturbance to their neighbourhood from your venue or patrons
• alcohol-related crime or anti-social behaviour
• alcohol-related health problems
• more pedestrian or motor traffic
• drink driving and drink walking
• an increase in domestic violence linked t​o alcohol
• litter and other pollution generated by your venue.

Community benefits may include:

• new social and recreational choices
• more opportunities for live music and other artists
• jobs and economic activity.

Follow up consultations

ILGA cannot grant a licence, authorisation or approval unless the overall social impact will not be detrimental to the well-being of the local or broader community. So it is important you do your best to resolve any community issues through a second round of consultation before you lodge an application for a liquor licence.

By describing changes you have made to your proposal after talking to your community the CIS will demonstrate how well you handle, and respond to, community issues.

Ensure that all information in your CIS reflects community responses as it will be on public display.

Engagement tools for follow up consultation

Face-to-face meetings

Small face-to-face meetings allow you to informally discuss issues about your proposal.

Meetings allow stakeholders to be well informed about a proposal, and individuals can give feedback immediately on issues and concerns.

• Can be a spontaneous discussion or a formally planned event where stakeholders are officially invited to meet
• Rules on how feedback will be recorded and used in the CIS should be established up front
• Sensitive issues must be managed, and all participants should be encouraged to participate in discussion
• Can be an informal venue setting – such as at someone’s home or a coffee shop
• Discussion may need to be recorded, and possibly facilitated

Considerations

• The venue chosen should be a neutral space, not associated with a particular group or stakeholder
• It is preferable that the meeting is not held at the licensed premises in question if the premises are already operating
• If there is more than one interest group participating, plan carefully to ensure the discussion is not dominated by one opinion or perspective
• All opinions must be considered valuable to the discussion
• The facilitator of the discussion group must be polite and relaxed to encourage a free exchange of interests and opinions
• Face-to-face meetings can encourage ongoing participation by stakeholders and establish strong networks within the community.

Carefully check you have notified each of the following mandatory stakeholders, at the addresses listed in Step 1:

Local stakeholders:
1. Your local council or consent authority
2. Your local Police
3. The occupier of any neighbouring premises (for CIS B, neighbouring properties adjoining, or within at least 100m of the boundary of the proposed premises)

For CIS B only:
4. Recognised leaders of the local Aboriginal community
5. Neighbouring LGA (if the proposed premises situated within 500m of another LGA)

NSW Head offices:
6. NSW Health
7. Department of Communities and Justice (FACS)
8. Transport for NSW (RMS)

Take care in the way you prepare and complete your CIS. You may need professional advice for more complex or contentious applications.

We may ask you to revise your CIS if it is incomplete or unsatisfactory. A CIS could be inadequate if you do not:

• consult all relevant community members
• describe how you conducted the consultation
• include discussion on issues people raise
• include information on how you will deal with any current and future concerns from the community.

The CIS must show how stakeholder concerns have been resolved and describe any changes that have been made to the proposal as a result of stakeholder discussions. In situations where a resolution could not be reached, the CIS should detail the issues raised and include a brief description of the attempts that were made to resolve these concerns.

All information provided in the CIS must accurately reflect stakeholder responses.

Ensure that you obtain consent before identifying individuals who provide comment about a liquor licence proposal, as the CIS – and their comments – will be on public display.

You can find out about the factors and evidence considered when determining whether or not the social impact of the licence or authorisation will be detrimental to the local or broader community at liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au

When preparing any CIS, we strongly encourage you to read Guideline 6: consideration of social impact under Section 48(5) of the Liquor Act 2007 PDF, 336.99 KB

Application form CIS A: Category A community impact statement form (PDF 697.4 KB)

Application form CIS B: Category B community impact statement form PDF, 943.12 KB

How to prepare a category B CIS: How to prepare a category B CIS PDF, 204.55 KB

To avoid delays, carefully check your CIS before lodging your application. Have you:

• Signed and dated your CIS?
• Included a neighbourhood notification map (showing all properties notified – within, or on land within – at least a 100 metre radius of the proposed premises)?
• Notified all mandatory stakeholders at the addresses listed in Step 1?
• Completed each section of the CIS form using the check boxes provided?
• Combined all CIS-related files into a single file for upload at application (including the map, and any files referred to in the CIS)?

Be careful – failure to comply with the above may result in your CIS and application being invalid, which could result in you having to start the CIS process again.

You can apply for all new liquor licences online

Once you have lodged your application and CIS, we will publish it on the Liquor and Gaming Application Noticeboard for 30 days. This enables the public to provide comment on your application.

We will contact you if we need additional information to assess your application. We'll also contact you to advise of your application outcome.