Kaiti Red Door Liquor store licence application denied, store intends to appeal

Kaiti Red Door Liquor, based at Gisborne's Kaiti Hub, had its application for a licence renewal declined this week. Photo / James Pocock

A licensing committee has declined a Gisborne store’s application to renew its liquor license, citing an “imperative” to minimise alcohol harm in the area.

Red Door Liquor Store, in Kaiti Hub, intends to appeal the decision before its licence expires on June 12.

The store’s application for a licence renewal came before the District Licensing Committee (DLC).

A hearing last month heard objections from Kaiti School principal Billie-Jean Potaka Ayton, Medical Officer of Health (MOoH) Dr Douglas Lush and the district council’s district licensing inspectorate, Dr Vincenzo Petrella.

Potaka Ayton told the committee in her entire 16 years as principal of Kaiti primary school there had been ongoing issues of drunks, predominantly middle-aged males, drinking within five metres of the school entrance way, which is across the road from the store.

The police initially filed opposition but withdrew it after engagement with the applicant.

According to the DLC, the store has been operated by the current licensee since 2006 and has functioned as a bottle store since at least 1993, according to the earliest available records.

Solicitor Sarah Rawcliffe, representing store owner V D V Ventures, in her submission said the store had operated for 20 years without any enforcement action or ever being before the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority or District Licensing Committee.

In a reserved decision released this week, Gisborne DLC commissioner Pat Seymour wrote that the committee had “carefully considered” the submissions before it and had decided to decline the application to renew the licence.

“This is a highly deprived area of Gisborne, close to a number of sensitive sites with evidence of alcohol-related harm supported by police, the MOoH, the council’s inspector and community objectors,” the decision reads.

“As the High Court expressed it: ‘if there is a real risk of harm from the grant of the licence, the imperative to minimise the harm is engaged, meaning reduced to the smallest possible degree’.”

Outlining its reasoning, in consideration of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, the committee found that the store owner, mall landlord and police initiatives had reduced the nuisance that concerned the community, but those behaviours still existed.

“While submissions have been made around suitability, primarily referencing price and single sales, the committee finds the applicant is a suitable person to hold the licence for the Red Door Liquor Kaiti and that the submitted material is not sufficient to find otherwise,” the decision reads.

“The significant concerns around harm within the community of Kaiti; the location of sensitive sites, and the ongoing evidence of hazardous behaviours from excessive use of alcohol bring the committee to the decision to decline.

“While the primary concern from the school is the homeless drinking, sleeping and urinating around the bus shelter and the grass verge opposite the school, wider concerns from the opposition have highlighted other harms from the excessive use of alcohol in this generally low socio-economic community.”

The committee said some evidence provided said the amount of drinking would be reduced if alcohol were not so readily available.

“The committee cannot determine that all anti-social behaviours reported in submissions [are] directly attributed to sales from Red Door Liquor Kaiti, but there is sufficient evidence to suggest the ready access to alcohol is the precursor to the visible anti-social behaviours and harm witnessed in this location.”

The current licence will expire at 9pm on June 12, which the committee said was to give the applicant time to make arrangements to accommodate the decision.

Martinus Jan van der Velde, director of V D V Ventures, confirmed with the Gisborne Herald his intention to appeal the decision and declined to comment further at this stage.