Council adopts new permanent alcohol bans for city

Christchurch City Council has approved three new permanent alcohol bans in the city.

The Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places Amendment Bylaw 2014 was adopted today and comes into effect on 8 September 2014. It makes the following alcohol bans permanent:

Riccarton/Ilam

The area where a temporary ban has been in place this year is added to the permanent alcohol ban area. It applies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Addington

An alcohol ban area applies each year in Addington from 9am to 10pm on New Zealand Trotting Cup Day, the second Tuesday in November each year.

Sumner

A ban will apply from 7pm on 31 December to 7am 1 January each New Year’s Eve. The area covered is the same as the permanent weekend ban from 7pm each Thursday night until midnight at the end of each Sunday.

“Temporary alcohol bans were introduced with the support of the community and have been effective at reducing the number of incidents and anti-social behaviour. We then needed to see if there was public support for making the bans permanent through the Amendment Bylaw, which there was,” says the Council’s Strategic Policy Manager Alan Bywater.

The public and organisations were invited to make submissions on the Amendment Bylaw and hearings were held in July.

In addition to making the above bans permanent, the amendment bylaw also exempts the University of Canterbury campus from being covered by the Riccarton/Ilam ban area.

Hearings Panel Chairman David East says changes in Government legislation altered the definition of a public place, which had an unforseen impact on the university.

“Changes to the Local Government Act came into force in December last year that altered the definition of a public place as it applied in council bylaws. This was to target problems in carparks and other private areas accessed by the public by including them within ban areas.

“Most submitters supported the use of a bylaw to minimise the harm from alcohol, however the university indicated the definition change would have a significant impact on its campus, which is largely open to the public. It could have been forced to fence off the campus or apply for licences for events.

“We had a chance through the Amendment Bylaw to exempt the university campus and ensure the Government law change didn’t impose unnecessary costs or restrictions on the university.”

The full bylaw and maps will be available from 8 September 2014 on the Council website, go to www.ccc.govt.nz/alcoholbylaw

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