Through a LAP, the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act enables the community to:

• Limit the location of licensed premises in particular areas or near certain types of facilities, such as in specific neighbourhoods or near schools or churches;
• Limit the density of licensed premises by specifying whether new licences or types of licences should be issued in a particular area;
• Impose conditions on groups of licences, such as a “one-way door” condition that would allow patrons to leave premises but not enter or re-enter after a certain time;
• Recommend discretionary conditions for licences;
• Restrict or extend the default maximum trading hours set in the Act, which are:

8am - 4am for on-licences (such as pubs and restaurants)

7am - 11pm for off-licences (such as bottle stores and supermarkets).

The Local Alcohol Policy covers all types of licences including on-licences, off-licences, club and special licences. In summary, the Local Alcohol Policy states:

The maximum trading hours for all On-licences:

Monday to Sunday, 8:00 am until 2:00 am the following day (24 hours per day for in-bedroom mini-bars in hotels)

The maximum trading hours for all Off-licences:

Monday to Sunday 7:00 am to 10:00 pm

The maximum trading hours for all Club licences:

Monday to Sunday, 8:00 am until 2:00 am the following day

Other conditions are also included for all types of licences, and controls on the location of new off-licence premises may be imposed.

Our current Local Alcohol Policy doesn’t include rules about how close off-licences, such as bottle stores, can be to sensitive sites like schools. This review is an opportunity to address that.

In Māpua, a proposed liquor store near the local primary school prompted strong community opposition, with many residents and stakeholders coming together to have their say. If the policy reflects this feedback, we could introduce special conditions so that applications like this would generally be considered inappropriate, saving time for everyone involved. This approach would give the community confidence, while also providing more certainty for applicants planning new businesses.

Read more about the Māpua decision here.