Liquor licence

As usual, Mano Manoharan (Waikato Times letters, August 17) gets the wrong end of the stick, this time about the proposed liquor store on Te Aroha Street at Claudelands, across the road from a residential area.

Far from being ‘‘keen’’ to give the liquor shop a licence, Hamilton City Council has not even received a licence application. Added to that, a number of councillors have signalled their intention to do what they can to oppose what would be a second liquor licence in the same shopping centre.

We know the damage done to the community through the easy access to cheap booze and are anything but ‘‘keen’’ to see more of it.

The proposed liquor store has only applied for permission to build a shop at the moment, and without sufficient car parking, so even that is no foregone conclusion. A separate process applying for a liquor licence may follow, and that’s where our views come in.

Unfortunately, the previous government did not give councils the ability to properly control liquor outlets, with the two big supermarket chains already successfully overturning several attempts in the courts. Here’s hoping the new Government will fix the legislation in this area.

So Mr Manoharan, we will try to stop this, but please direct your ill-founded criticism at the right place.

Dave Macpherson, Hamilton city councillor