Keep Booze Adverts and Schools Apart says Board

Last Tuesday evening the Hobson Community Board passed a resolution geared at highlighting a major shortcoming of the Ministry of Education’s proposed Alexandra Park School site. The Ministry of Education land directly overlooks the raceway and all the alcohol advertising normally associated with raceway activities.

The school, currently ‘put on ice’ by the Minister, would have classrooms overlooking the Racetrack and to date the Ministry have side stepped the issue of alcohol advertising, saying that any future Board of Trustees would simply have to negotiate that matter.

But this will not happen if the Hobson Board gets its way with its submission to the Auckland City Alcohol strategy. The Board’s proposal is that schools should not be given resource consent by the City to be built when pre existing alcohol advertising will be clearly visible within the school grounds and by school pupils.

“Higher density living only works when high standards are maintained and its good to have some bench marks. In the future we may want to build schools in innovative ways and environments” said Hobson Community Board Member, Julie Chambers “but we also need to be really clear about what we will accept and what we need to be very wary about.

“Keeping young children from seeing alcohol advertising daily from within their classrooms seems a good start. Even if the advertising was kept to school holidays, sooner or later there would be a conflict of interest between the school and the need of the racing authorities to gain revenue through advertising. This resolution again underlines the very doubtful suitability of this particular school site’ said Mrs Chambers.

Auckland City is currently consulting on the Alcohol Strategy. Submissions are due to the City by Friday 3 September 2004.

Julie Chambers
Hobson Community Board

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