Still time for another round of talks
Bottle stores closing at 9pm and bars closing at 2am have come close to being the rules for controlling Palmerston North’s drinking scene.
But the city council’s community development committee has recommended taking another look at restrictions on the location of new bottle stores as well.
That will trigger the need to go out for a fourth round of public consultation about the draft local alcohol policy including closing times that was first mooted eight years ago.
Councillors were expected on Wednesday, St Patrick’s Day, to make two key decisions about closing times before adopting a provisional plan, which would still be subject to appeals if any submitters opposed it.
The 9pm closing time for offlicensed premises, including bottle stores and supermarket alcohol areas, has earlier been supported by bottle store operators, but not the supermarket chains.
Shaving two hours off evening trading time was supported by all councillors and was described by mayor Grant Smith as ‘‘courageous’’.
It was an attempt to reduce the harm done by alcohol through the practice of pre-loading at private homes before people came into the central city for the nightlife in supervised premises.
The 2am closing for bars was an option 10 out of 13 councillors voting at the meeting chose over an earlier version of the policy that would have allowed 3am closing, but with a one-way door policy stopping new patrons from coming in after 2am.
Committee chairwoman Lorna Johnson said closing the bars an hour earlier was ‘‘modest’’ and would not require the one-way door policy that many bar owners had opposed as impractical.
Smith supported the status quo 3am closing time.
Earlier closing rules would turn the central city into a ghost town, with bars closing two hours earlier than was the norm in other metropolitan cities.
Cr Rachel Bowen also spoke against 2am closing, an option many bar owners had thought was ‘‘off the table’’, which had prompted some to assume they did not need to make a submission in the most recent round of consultation.
Only those who made submissions on the latest version of the policy have the right to lodge an appeal with the Alcohol Regulatory Licensing Authority.
The proposed earlier closing times will have to be offered up for another round of public comment because the changes to control the proliferation of bottle stores had not been earlier proposed or consulted on.
Some councillors, including deputy mayor Aleisha Rutherford, spoke against making any changes that would trigger the need for yet more consultation. But Cr Karen Naylor, who proposed or supported three amendments about new bottle store licences, said submitters had put sound arguments about the majority of alcohol sales coming from off-licences, and the majority of heavy drinking happening in private homes.
The location and proliferation of bottle stores was also one of the issues people most frequently raised with councillors, she said.
The one amendment that had sufficient support to trigger reconsultation was about not allowing new bottle stores near sensitive sites such as schools, early childcare centres and churches.
The idea of restricting new stores in the most socially deprived neighbourhoods was voted down, as was putting a cap on the number of new stores allowed, tagged to population growth.
Council staff will now have to re-write the draft local alcohol policy, before calling for fresh public submissions.