Scoring for the proposed alcohol matrix was judged to be too harsh by council strategy and policy manager David Gurney. Photo / 123rf
Scoring for the proposed alcohol matrix was judged to be too harsh by council strategy and policy manager David Gurney. Photo / 123rf
Concerns from experts have forced the Whanganui District Council to rethink its proposed alcohol risk matrix.
The matrix, or framework, provides a score for licence applications based on factors such as areas of deprivation, clustering of venues and proximity to sensitive sites.
It was called “non-nuanced“ by Whanganui District LicensingCommittee chairman Stuart Hylton last month.
At a council strategy and policy meeting this week, strategy and policy manager David Gurney said more work was needed on the proposal. “It’s a little bit too rigid.”
“If you were to apply that scoring now, places like High-Kut Bistro would be a very high risk and probably wouldn’t get their licence renewed,” Gurney said.
“Likewise, all council venues that have alcohol licenses would not have their licences renewed.”
Under the proposal, applications with a score of 16 to 25 would be unlikely to receive a licence, with “a presumption against granting a licence” for those between six and 15.
Gurney’s report to the committee said scoring thresholds may need to be revised to make risk profiles for venues more realistic.
“We can maybe bring a couple more criteria into that,” he told the committee.
“Things like economic vibrancy could be a consideration, because that was a key concern that came up in submissions [on the council’s alcohol policy] and we can talk more about the track record [of existing venues].”
He said the council would keep the risk framework, but the scoring was too harsh.
In his submission on the policy, General Distributors’ Paul Radich said the risk matrix was an overly simplistic tool for a process that had to be contextual and assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Council chief strategy officer Sarah O'Hagan says it is "factual information" that alcohol causes harm. Photo / Bevan Conley
Papaiti Gin’s Adrian Rumney said he supported a risk weighting based on the deprivation index, but not for proximity to other licensed venues.
“A concentration of well-managed businesses is an important part of establishing a safe, diverse and vibrant hospitality sector in Whanganui,” his submission said.
“This risk-weighting penalises new licensees because of the issues caused or contributed to by poorly managed existing licensed premises.
“We believe greater enforcement of non-compliance is a far more effective tool in managing these risks.”
Under legislation, a licensing committee must regard a local alcohol policy when deciding whether to issue a licence, but does not have to follow it.
Gurney said the risk matrix gave transparency to the criteria against which decisions were made, regardless of the scoring system.
“An example, in another context, is around ministerial decision-making,” he said.
“In the acts, the minister, when making decisions on topics, must have regard to certain matters.
“This is very similar.”
Council chief strategy officer Sarah O’Hagan said it was “factual information” that alcohol caused harm and the risk framework was intended to take a further step in managing it.
“But not in a way where we have unintended consequences that prohibit the economic vibrancy that can come with those premises,” O’Hagan said.
“With the scoring, what we have seen and heard through the submission process is that it makes the framework too much of a blunt instrument.”
The council’s local alcohol policy will be presented to the committee for adoption on August 5.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
