One-way door system possible as focus group looks at alcohol policy

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Licensing hours and a one-way door system for Whangarei premises will be among items up for discussion over the next two months, as the Whangarei District Council forms its draft Local Alcohol Policy (LAP).

Councillors voted at a planning committee meeting on Wednesday to form a focus group of liquor industry stakeholders, enforcement agencies and public health agencies and organisations to start forming the draft LAP at the end of this month.

Topics likely to be explored include licensing hours, location of premises, and a one-way door system first proposed in the council's Liquor Licensing Agency's 2010 liquor policy.

"At this point the one-way door policy is the path that a lot of councils are taking," Whangarei Deputy Mayor Sharon Morgan said.

New legislation - the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 - which provides for the making of LAPs, came into force in December last year.

WDC district living group manager Paul Dell said, "The new alcohol policy legislation allows [us] to look at [issues] such as location, density.

"One of the issues, similar to gambling, is that location tends to be important."

Mr Dell said the WDC had been pro-active and had liquor licence policies since 1990, with amendments in 2010.

Councillor John Williamson said, "Essentially we have broken the back of the real crunchy areas with regards to things like operating hours."

The council has developed an extensive profile of alcohol use in the district that will be referenced while it compiles the new draft LAP.

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai said, "What [the profile really] raises for me is [Whangarei's] alcohol-related health issues and alcohol-related injuries presented to the hospital."

According to the report, excessive alcohol consumption is the leading contributing factor to fatal crashes and crash injuries on Northland roads.

Northland hospital admission data analysed over a four-year period show a high number of admissions with "wholly alcohol-attributable" conditions in the Whangarei district compared to the Kaipara and Far North regions.

As well, 45 per cent of the Whangarei Hospital emergency department injury-related presentations involved alcohol having been consumed in the previous 12 hours.

The focus group is set to present the draft to council by mid-November, after which it will be released for public consultation in February next year, with a public hearing in April.