Sugar ban opponents are fizzing

Sugary drinks will be harder to get in Palmerston North, after the city’s council voted to restrict their sale and supply at the venues it owns and events it runs.

Members of the council’s community development committee voted 8-6 for bringing in the policy yesterday, with the debate ranging from fears about freedom of choice to the council turning into the ‘‘sugar police’’.

The policy means all the city’s libraries and community centres will not sell sugar-sweetened beverages, such as soft drinks and flavoured milks.

Contractors selling the drinks at council premises like the Lido Aquatic Centre and Central Energy Trust Arena would not have to immediately comply, but would be asked to get rid of them until contracts come up for negotiation. People, such as city council staff, could still bring their own sugary drinks from home if they liked.

Midcentral District Health Board had asked the council to adopt some kind of sugar-free policy, after enacting its own in 2015. Midcentral health promotion adviser Nigel Fitzpatrick said there had been some adverse comments on the DHB’S intranet soon after the ban came in, but most people had learned to live with it.

Councils around the country had either taken up the policy or were looking at bringing it in, and comments against were largely about freedom of choice, he said. The DHB supported a sugary drink ban, but did not have a comment to make on artificially sweetened drinks, due to a lack of evidence, he said.

Mayor Grant Smith was not a fan, saying there were too many holes in the policy. ‘‘I have real sympathy with the intention of this, but I do wonder if the DHB should be putting their efforts into everybody, rather than looking at us as a soft target.’’

Councillor Vaughan Dennison said he understood the health risks of sugary drinks, but a ban made no sense when someone could walk across the road to a shop and take a drink into council premises. ‘‘You can still buy an ice-cream and a doughnut, and get the equivalent of having a fizzy drink. Targeting this building is limiting our staff [members’] choices. The position we are taking as the sugar police or the sugar patrol, I don’t think that’s a situation the people of our city are wanting us to make.’’

Councillor Lorna Johnson said Local Government New Zealand had a remit encouraging councils to ban sugary drinks, which the city council had supported. ‘‘We already do this for smoking and we have controls on alcohol, and there is no doubt sugary drinks impact obesity and type-2 diabeties.’’

She also rubbished Dennison’s doughnut comment. ‘‘Sugary beverages are not like a doughnut. Sugary beverages are empty calories.’’

Deputy Mayor Tangi Utikere said the council actually wanted a harsher remit, also banning artificially sweetened drinks. ‘‘The fact is this is a health issue that impacts our community. It is a small step we as an organisation that we can make.’’

Councillor Aleisha Rutherford said it was not about removing freedom of choice. ‘‘It’s a stepping stone in the right direction towards a healthier city.’’

Councillors for: Karen Naylor, Lorna Johnson, Adrian Broad, Tangi Utikere, Susan Baty, Brent Barrett, Aleisha Rutherford and Duncan Mccann.

Councillors against: Bruno Petrenas, Vaughan Dennison, Lew Findlay, Leonie Hapeta, Grant Smith and Gabrielle Bundy-cooke.

Councillors absent: Jim Jefferies and Rachel Bowen.