Auckland Council Defends Alcohol Rule Shakeup

Wednesday, 23 July 2025, 2:15 pm
Article: Torika Tokalau - Local Democracy Reporter

Auckland's tougher liquor laws needed to be implemented after 10 years of legal battles, otherwise the work could have been in vain, the council says.

Auckland Council is defending its Local Alcohol Policy (LAP), implemented last year, following recent criticism from a legal expert who said it was quickly becoming outdated.

Drafted in 2013, the LAP outlines the location, amount, and trading hours for alcohol businesses in the region.

The new rules included a two-year freeze on new off-licences in the central city and 23 other suburbs with the highest alcohol-related harm.

Concerns were raised on a possible 'technical error', because the LAP was connected to an older version of the Unitary Plan which only protected neighbourhood centres that existed in 2013, from proliferation of bottle shops.

However, Auckland Council policy general manager Louise Mason said there was a reason for linking the LAP to the 2013 Unitary Plan, and it wasn't a technical error.

"Linking the policy to the current version of the unitary plan - adopted in 2016 - would have meant starting the entire process again," Mason said.

"That would have likely led to further court proceedings, and another round of lengthy legal battles. This would have risked delaying the policy further or possibly preventing it from coming in at all."

Dr Grant Hewison, a lawyer who works with Community Against Alcohol Harm (CAAH) in south Auckland, called for an early review of the LAP because new neighbourhood centres that have since popped up since 2013 weren't being protected.

He said recent decisions by the licensing district proved this when new off-licences were granted at three new neighbourhood centres because they were out of the scope of the 2013 Unitary Plan.

According to the LAP, neighbourhood centres were commercial centres within residential areas.

Hewison also raised concerns over the end of a two-year freeze in 2026 on new off-licences in the central city and 23 other suburbs with the highest alcohol-related harm.

He said the LAP was now relatively an older document.

Mason said communities had been asking for the LAP for a long time, so the decision was made to continue with what had already been developed in 2012, rather than starting all over again.

Once the temporary freeze ends, the DLC should work on the presumption that any application for an off-licence in these areas should continue to be rejected, she said.

"This is already happening in some neighbourhoods and, so far, seems to be working."

Council staff were monitoring how the policy was working in its first year, she said.

"[This] including the off-licence freeze - and will report back to the mayor and councillors in early 2026."

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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