11 May 2007

Council to look at effectiveness of alcohol bans

Auckland City Council's Planning and Regulatory Committee yesterday deferred proposals to introduce alcohol bans in more city parks and lengthen the hours of some bans.

In December last year, the committee approved interim alcohol bans throughout a number of city parks in a bid to reduce liquor-related disorder and vandalism.

Councillor Glenda Fryer, the committee chairperson, says further research is needed to test the effectiveness of the alcohol bans and to determine whether they resulted in simply moving problems of noise, disorderly behaviour and intoxication from one part of the city to another.

"We have to question whether alcohol bans are the only option to explore," she said.

"First we introduced bans in the central area, then the town centres and now we're experiencing problems in the parks.

"Applying bans in parks could shift the problem to the city's streets. Christchurch has just experienced how serious that can be.

"Disorderly behaviour, particularly with younger age groups, is a serious community problem nationwide and placing bans on certain areas may not be the appropriate way to manage it."

The committee decided to defer the issue until the July meeting so officers could conduct further research, including seeking responses from the police and legal advisers, and report back on what had been learned from the alcohol bans in town centres.

"We also need to speak to other councils to see how they have been dealing with the issue," says Ms Fryer. "It's clearly a problem affecting many areas of New Zealand."

"The interim bans remain effective until August 2007 by which time the council will have a clearer idea of how to tackle the problem."

Information on current permanent and interim alcohol bans can be found at: www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/liquorban/areas.asp

ENDS

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