Christchurch City Council is looking at developing a Local Alcohol Policy that sets out how alcohol should be sold and supplied in Christchurch.

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Any council can develop its own Local Alcohol Policy, in consultation with the local community. The Local Alcohol Policy can set rules around the number, location, and opening hours of licenced premises, such as bars, cafes and restaurants, supermarkets and bottle stores. These rules can apply across either the whole city and district or only in identified local areas.  

Christchurch City Council is committed to working closely with our communities to make sure a Local Alcohol Policy is tailored to our city’s needs. An important first step is to gather statistical data and information required by legislation(external link), and we're now gathering research on alcohol harm, gathering and analysing local community data, and reviewing Local Alcohol Policies in other districts.

If you have any statistical data about local alcohol harm that you're happy to share with us, please email letstalk@ccc.govt.nz

Background

On Wednesday 5 June 2024, councillors voted for the Council to develop a draft Local Alcohol Policy with the wider community, following the 2023 amendments and recent case law made in the Supreme Court.

The Council paused its previous work on a draft Local Alcohol Policy in 2017 after a four-year process involving appeals and a judicial review.

Recent changes to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 have removed the requirement for councils to produce a provisional version of their Local Alcohol Policy first, as well as the ability of other parties to appeal any element of it.

This has simplified the process for councils developing their own Local Alcohol Policy, and for communities to participate in alcohol licensing decisions in their district.

Next steps

We expect the whole process of developing a Local Alcohol Policy will take more than a year, starting from the Council’s decision to proceed. This is because legislation requires us to collect comprehensive data and information – we know there’s strong community interest in alcohol matters, so we need to allow sufficient time and opportunities to hear those views. 

We’ll soon start talking with NZ Police, the Medical Officer of Health, and key groups – community-based groups, sectors and businesses – interested in alcohol-related matters, to hear their key issues. We’re also inviting them to share their statistical data and stay in touch with the development of the Local Alcohol Policy.

We’ve already heard the views of more than 5000 people in a recent Life in Christchurch(external link) survey on the sale and supply of alcohol. The findings from this survey will be available in November 2024. 

Drawing on all this data, information, and stakeholder and community views, the Council will prepare a draft Local Alcohol Policy and take it out for public feedback in 2025 using a full Special Consultative Procedure.

Once councillors have considered the views of the community and stakeholders, they'll decide whether to adopt a LAP. Once a Local Alcohol Policy is adopted, it must be reviewed every six years.  

Council staff are scheduled to brief councillors on 5 November 2024 on their progress with gathering information and starting to talk with interested groups and a high-level summary of the Life in Christchurch survey results.  

Before the end of 2024, councillors will make a decision on: 

  • How quickly they want to continue developing the Local Alcohol Policy.
  • Whether they want the whole elected council, or an identified subset, to consider submissions and recommend a final policy for adoption before the 2025 local elections. 

What's included in a Local Alcohol Policy

​A Local Alcohol Policy may include policies on:

  • Where licenced premises can be located – including any limits in particular areas or near certain types of facilities.​
  • Whether any new licences or types of licence can be issued in the district, or any part of the district.​
  • Restricting or extending the maximum trading hours set out in the Act.​
  • Any conditions that licences or types of licences should be subject to, for example, ‘one-way door’ conditions.

A Local Alcohol Policy cannot:

  • Include policies on anything that does not directly relate to licensing.​
  • Be a substitute for general alcohol harm reduction strategies or plans, such as the Christchurch Alcohol Reduction Plan 2017–21.