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Local Alcohol Policy changes

We’re making changes to Tauranga’s Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) which will help to reduce alcohol harm in our community.

While many people consume alcohol responsibly, harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol impacts our communities. A LAP is one way of helping to reduce alcohol harm in our community.

Background

We developed a draft LAP in 2021, which was open for consultation from November to December 2021. After considering the issues raised by submitters, Council then made changes to the draft policy. As some of these changes were not considered in the initial draft LAP, further public consultation was undertaken in August to September 2022. Submitters that wanted to speak to their submissions were heard in November 2022.

Council decided to wait until there was greater certainty on the proposed new Sale and Supply of Alcohol legislation before considering the issues raised during the submission process and the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation) Amendment Act 2023 is now in force.

On Monday, 30 October 2023, the Strategy, Finance and Risk Committee met to consider the feedback received during the Local Alcohol Policy consultations, and made decisions which will come into effect for everyone on 12 February, 2024.

The committee felt that on balance, changes to the Local Alcohol Policy would help to reduce alcohol harm in the community.

This is reflected by what we heard from the Medical Officer of Health, NZ Police and a number of people in our community, with a request for stronger measures to keep the community safe.

The key changes

The key changes in the LAP are:

changing the opening sales time for all off-licensed premises from 7am to 10am. This means all off-licence stores can sell alcohol from 10am, from 12 February 2024 onwards
no new bottle stores in areas where the deprivation index is 9 or 10
a change to the closing time for on-licensed premises in the city centre bars to 2am, instead of the current 3am closing time. This means all on-licence bars, restaurants and cafes need to close at 2am from 12 February 2024 onwards.
a change to the one-way door policy which will start at 1am, instead of the current 2am closing time. This means customers can leave on-licensed premises but cannot enter from 1am, after the LAP changes come into effect on 21 February 2024
a range of discretionary conditions that can be applied to off-licensed premises.

These changes aim to reduce alcohol related harm.

Provisions that have changed	Current LAP	New LAP from 12 February 2024
Maximum trading hours for off-licensed premises	7am - 10pm	10am-10pm
Closing time for on-licensed premises in the city centre	3am	2am
Bottle Store location provision	None	No new bottle stores in areas where the deprivation index is 9 or 10
Discretionary conditions for off-licensed premises	None	8 discretionary conditions
One way door provision	2am	Starts at 1am

Research report

We prepared a research report to gather information to inform the development of the draft LAP.

The report provides a range of information including information on current licences, community and demographic information, information on alcohol related problems. You can read the report below.

Local Alcohol Policy Background Report 2021 (2mb pdf)

Next steps

The changes to the LAP will come into effect on 12 February, 2024.

FAQ's

What is a Local Alcohol Policy (LAP)?

A LAP is a set of decisions made by a local authority in consultation with its community about the sale and supply of alcohol locally.

The aim of the LAP is to reduce alcohol-related harm in the community.

Our current LAP influences:

opening hours of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs
when alcohol can be sold.

Why do we have a LAP if it’s not compulsory to have one?

If we don’t have a LAP in place, we fall under the default maximum trading hours for on-licensed premises which are 8am to 4am the following day.

Having a LAP in place informs the District Licensing Committee (the Committee that decides on licensing applications and renewals) on the community’s views on the sale of alcohol.

The LAP is also a tool that helps us work towards our community outcome of having ‘an inclusive city’; where people feel safe in their homes, neighbourhoods, and public places.

What areas will new bottle stores not be permitted in under the new policy?

We have used the NZ Index of Deprivation (NZDep) to identify areas where no new licenses for bottle stores can be issued.

The NZDep is a measure of socio-economic deprivation. It is based on nine census variables including access to the internet at home, income, qualifications and employment.

No new bottle stores can be established in the following suburbs with an index value of 9 or 10.

Deprivation Index Score:

10 - Yatton Park
10 - Baypark-Kairua
9 - Greerton South
9 - Gate Pa
9 - Tauranga Hospital

What are the new discretionary conditions for off-licensed premises?

Discretionary conditions can be included in an LAP. The inclusion of discretionary conditions does not mean that these conditions are required to be part of each licence. The District Licencing Committe (DLC) may decide to impose any discretionary conditions set out in the LAP or any other condition it considers appropriate.

Including discretionary conditions proposed by submitters in the revised draft LAP informs the DLC on what the community would like considered when making licensing decisions. It also provides some guidance to applicants regarding the nature and scope of potential discretionary conditions.

What are the 8 discretionary conditions?

Council has included the following discretionary conditions in the LAP:

signs detailing statutory restrictions on the sale of alcohol to minors and intoxicated persons adjacent to every point of sale
maintenance of an alcohol-related incidents book
installation and operation of CCTV cameras on the exterior of, and within, premises
provision of effective exterior lighting
no single sales of shots or premixed shots
restrictions on single sale
restrictions on the display of RTDs at principal entrance to the store or within 3 meters of the front window
restrictions on the display of product or price specials.