Last call for drinks could get a lot earlier in the Eastern Bay if a draft policy is adopted.

Whakatāne District Council’s Living Together Committee met on Thursday to discuss the draft Eastern Bay Local Alcohol Policy and whether to adopt it for consulation.

What time supermarkets were able to start selling alcohol in the mornings dominated the councillors’ hour-long discussion.

The draft policy was put together by a working group made up of members of Kawerau, Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne councils, formed in 2021 to review the current policy.

Changes to the current policy included reductions in trading hours for both on-licence and off-licence premises. These would be standardised throughout Ōpōtiki, Whakatāne and Kawerau districts to 9am to 10pm for off-licence premises, except supermarkets, which would be 8am to 10pm.

On-licence premises such as bars and clubs’ trading hours would be changed to 9am to midnight.

Currently, trading hours for on-licence bars differs across the districts. In Whakatāne it is 8am to 2am and in Kawerau and Ōpōtiki it is 9am to 1am. Off-licence trading hours are 7am to 10pm. Clubs on-licence trading hours are different again, 10am to 1am in Ōpōtiki, 9am to 1am in Kawerau and in Whakatāne it is 7am to 2am, except for sports clubs which are 7am to midnight.

Councillor Gavin Dennis raised concerns the exception for off-licence trading hours for supermarkets was not what had been agreed upon when members from the three councils met at a workshop last year to discuss what changes they wanted to see.

“I am horrified,” he told the staff members who presented the council with the draft policy. “This is not what was discussed. There was an agreement with all three councils to move it to 9am.”

Strategy and transformation general manager Steven Perdia said he was aware there had been an agreement at the workshop to make it a later time, which the draft policy reflected. He didn’t think a time of 9am had been stipulated. The 8am time had been considered more convenient for supermarkets which had to put up barriers to their beer and wine departments when they were open outside of their trading hours.

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Councillors Andrew Iles and Tu O’Brien supported Dennis in saying the time of 9am was agreed upon and supported his motion to not adopt the draft policy but recommend to the working party to change the draft policy.

Perdia told councillors this would cause delays, particularly as Kawerau District Council had already adopted the draft policy for consultation the day before.

The draft policy is still at an early stage with two rounds of consultation needed before it is adopted. Because it is a combined policy with all three councils, each council will be required to adopt the draft plan before it goes out for consultation with the public.

Ōpōtiki council will receive it at its meeting scheduled for March 21, and consultation could take place between March 27 and April 28.

After the submission period, followed by hearings and deliberations, a provisional Local Alcohol Policy will have to go through a similar process, in which anyone who provided a submission of the draft policy can appeal.

Perdia suggested the council would have opportunities at future stages of the consultation process to make changes to the policy.

The remaining councillors, while agreeing they preferred the supermarkets’ opening hours to be 9am, the same as other off-licences, also agreed there would be a better opportunity further on in the process to make the change.

Dennis’ motion was outvoted eight to three and the draft policy was adopted for consultation.

Other changes to the policy included applications for new on or off-licences having to be located in a zone designed for commercial or business activities under the relevant council’s District Plan unless resource consent is granted.

The definition of sensitive locations has been extended to include locations within 100m of places of worship, marae and medical centres. Current sensitive locations are within 100m of primary and secondary schools, childcare centres and children’s playgrounds.

Anyone applying for a licence within these areas must be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Eastern Bay District Licensing Committee that no significant adverse effects will arise.

The review was informed by a research paper that includes information from New Zealand Police, Medical Officer of Health and licencing inspectors.

Key points from the report include high deprivation across all three districts, a proportion of hospital admissions related to alcohol higher than the national average for Ōpōtiki and Kawerau districts, and a steep rise in the percentage of crashes causing serious injuries or fatalities being alcohol-related. This increased from 25 per cent in 2017 to 50 per cent in 2021.

In 2020 and 2021, 25 per cent of family violence incidents flagged alcohol as a contributing factor and similar figures were given for other types of violent crime.

The report also showed Eastern Bay residents largely supported the reduction of the number of venues that sell alcohol.

Mayor Victor Luca questioned whether any research had been done into the effects of changes in policies previously.

“Does all this tweaking around the edges actually make any difference?”

Councillor Nandor Tanczos responded by saying local councils had very limited powers to control drinking behaviours.