Sydney’s lockout laws haven’t had an effect on the amount of violence in the city’s CBD, according to new research which casts doubt over the controversial regulation’s true impact on crime.

The Sydney University preliminary research also suggests the laws may only have had an indirect result on the decline in the number of non-domestic assaults in Kings Cross because the number of overnight visitors to the precinct has almost halved.

Foot traffic at night in Kings Cross has fallen considerably since the lockout laws. Credit:Peter Rae

The laws, which were introduced by the NSW government in 2014 following a spate of one-punch assaults, are being reviewed by Parliament at the request of Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who has signalled she may be open to winding them back.

The 10-person joint-party committee tasked with examining the laws visited Kings Cross last week in the evening to inspect several bars and businesses. NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham, Liberal North Shore MP Felicity Wilson, independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann were among the group.