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.