Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

Far North district Council meets locals to discuss alcohol policy

Northland Age
11 Apr, 2018 09:28 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Mayor John Carter - there's more than one way to address off-licence alcohol sales hours.

Mayor John Carter - there's more than one way to address off-licence alcohol sales hours.

The Far North District Council has attracted criticism from some quarters for abandoning the Local Alcohol Policy process, and supposedly losing the opportunity to reduce off-licence opening hours, but Mayor John Carter says there is more than one way to achieve what critics are looking for.

The council was now working directly with communities to reduce the availability of alcohol, after abandoning a four-year legal process to restrict retail hours.

Within a week of the council dropping its Proposed Local Alcohol Policy (PLAP), he had met with Kaikohe community representatives to discuss specific ways of reducing the impact of alcohol abuse in the town, Mr Carter said.

"Several community leaders, such as Mike Shaw in Kaikohe, have expressed their disappointment that a process funded by Far North ratepayers was not concluded, but I think we can achieve similar alcohol harm reductions quite quickly by talking directly to retailers," he said.

"I'm confident that businesses will act in the best interests of their communities, and will voluntarily reduce the availability of alcohol in selected areas."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He doubted that many residents were aware that the Far North already operated a voluntary accord with alcohol retailers that restricted the hours during which alcohol was sold.

"This has not changed since we abandoned the PLAP, and it shows that common-sense, voluntary accords like this can be as effective as bylaws or legislation," he said. "My goal is to enhance our accord by negotiating other rules where they are most needed."

Mr Shaw had been positive about the voluntary accord being enhanced in Kaikohe.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Carter said he shared community leaders' frustrations over abandoning the Local Alcohol Policy process, but the legislation had been new and untested when the council drafted its policy four years ago, believing it reflected people's wishes.

"Unfortunately, as these policies were tested around the country, it became clear that the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority required councils to provide a high level of evidence to back their proposals.

We abandoned our proposal because we had already spent more than $188,000 on legal costs defending it against challenges from retailers and community groups. Add in staff time and the costs are probably more in the vicinity of $200,000-plus.

"Based on public statements from those who opposed our proposal, we believed that continuing the process would inevitably incur further legal costs, with little guarantee of a meaningful outcome."

The council was aware some communities wanted tighter rules on alcohol sales and would work with them, alongside businesses, to achieve "reasonable changes".

In the meantime the council supported a national review of Local Alcohol Policy provisions so that all communities could have an effective say on where and when alcohol was sold.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings

Northland Age

Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage

Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings
Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings

Ngāi Takoto will purchase Kaitāia Airport in line with their Treaty settlement provisions.

14 Jul 12:00 AM
Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage
Northland Age

Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage

11 Jul 05:00 PM
School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says
Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says

10 Jul 02:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP