By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting
Bottle shops could pop up outside of some vulnerable town centres to get around Auckland’s new alcohol rules, an expert warns.
The Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) introduces a two-year freeze on new off-licence applications in the city centre and town centres in areas with the highest alcohol-related harm. These are called priority overlay areas.
However, the freeze isn’t applicable outside of these town centres.
Dr Grant Hewison, a lawyer who works with Community Against Alcohol Harm (CAAH) in south Auckland, said this comes with some risks.
“There’s quite a lot of opportunities to open off-licences outside those areas,” Hewison said.
He gave the example of Black Bull Manurewa, which was located in a residential area, outside of the town centre.
The shop was located next to three schools, and was one of five other bottle shops within a 1 kilometre radius.
Fortunately for the community, Black Bull Manurewa withdrew its application for a new off-licence in July, at the last minute, he said.
“One of the difficulties is that it [two-year freeze] only covers the town centres and not residential areas around them.
“And there have been a lot of liquor stores that have opened in those areas, and there are still opportunities to open new ones.”
Of the 23 suburbs in the priority overlays, 13 were in south Auckland: Hunters Corner, Māngere, Māngere East, Manukau, Manurewa, Ōtāhuhu, Ōtara, Papakura, Papatoetoe, Pukekohe, Takanini, Weymouth (Clendon) and Wiri.
The other 10 suburbs are Avondale, Glen Eden, Glen Innes, Helensville and Parakai, Henderson, Mt Wellington, Oranga, Panmure, Point England, and Wellsford and Te Hana.
Hewison said there was a lot that could be done to reduce alcohol harm in a LAP.
He said he would love to have seen earlier closing times for shops in residential areas, compared to town centres, and a two-year freeze on new off-licence applications across the region.
“We already have a proliferation of liquor stores in so many areas, the community is saying there’s already far too many.
“It would have been good to have a mechanism in place to reduce the number there, over time. For example, in Manurewa there is pretty much a liquor store in every little residential shop[ping area].”
An Auckland Council governing body will meet soon to adopt the LAP after a lengthy legal battle with supermarket giants.
The policy also introduces stricter trading hours where supermarkets and bottle stores won’t be able to sell alcohol after 9pm.
