Hamilton City Council will hit restart on its policy which sets the rules for where and when alcohol can be sold in the city.

The council voted to discontinue the Provisional Local Alcohol Policy, in a publicly excluded section of the March 15 council meeting, to find the most effective ways of managing the sale and supply of alcohol in Hamilton. A Local Alcohol Policy sets the rules for the hours alcohol can be sold at on-licence and off-licence businesses and restricts where they can be located.

The provisional policy was subject to appeal and was waiting on final decisions on the appeals from the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) after a hearing.

The council's acting general manager city growth Kelvin Powell says work will begin to gather some robust evidence on what impact alcohol has on the community.

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"The work done to date will still be useful and makes good sense to stop now and gather robust evidence to better understand the problem. As we start the process again we'll look at what are the best and most important things to have in the policy from our community's point of view."

The Hamilton District Licensing Committee, who make the decisions on all alcohol licences, will continue to apply the rules in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.