Agenda Items
1. Hastings District and Napier City Council Joint Local Alcohol Policy Review
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Type of Report: |
Legal and Operational |
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Legal Reference: |
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Document ID: |
1799275 |
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Reporting Officer/s & Unit: |
Stephen Bokkerink, Team Leader Compliance |
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1.1 Purpose of Report The purpose of this report is to provide an update to Council regarding a review of the Hastings District and Napier City Councils’ Joint Local Alcohol Policy as required in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the Act). |
The Future Napier Committee:
a. Receive this report titled Hastings District and Napier City Council’s Joint Local Alcohol Policy Review dated 24 October 2024.
b. Approve commencement of a review of the Hastings District and Napier City Councils’ Local Alcohol Policy, in accordance with the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.
c. Approve proceeding with an individual Napier City Council Local Alcohol Policy for Napier City with the goal of contributing to the reduction of alcohol related harm in our community and for ease of administration and efficiencies.
d. Approve the establishment of a joint governance structure between Napier City Council and Hastings District Council to inform the policy settings for both cities and maintain a locally led, regionally coordinated approach.
e. Note that a joint communications plan will be developed to coordinate consistent communications across both cities.
g. Note an issues and options paper will be brought back to the joint governance structure in a workshop for consideration, prior to commencement of the Special Consultative Procedure.
h. Note a draft Napier City Council Local Alcohol Policy and Statement of Proposal will be brought back to Council for approval before the commencement of the Special Consultative Procedure.
i. Note that the current joint Local Alcohol Policy remains in force until it is revoked and replaced.
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the Act), allows territorial authorities to have a Local Alcohol Policy relating to the sale, supply, or consumption of alcohol within its district. Two or more territorial authorities may adopt a Joint Local Alcohol Policy for their districts.
Under section 97 of the Act, a review of the Local Alcohol Policy is required, using the Special Consultative Procedure no later than 6 years after it came into force; and no later than 6 years after the most recent review of it was completed. As the Hastings District and Napier City Councils’ Joint Local Alcohol Policy was given effect on 21 August 2019 a review is required by 21 August 2025.
A Local Alcohol Policy is intended to assist in meeting the objectives of the Act, which are provided in Section 4 – Object:
(1) The object of this Act is that—
(a) the sale, supply, and consumption of alcohol should be undertaken safely and responsibly; and
(b) the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol should be minimised.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the harm caused by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol includes—
(a) any crime, damage, death, disease, disorderly behaviour, illness, or injury, directly or indirectly caused, or directly or indirectly contributed to, by the excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol; and
(b) any harm to society generally or the community, directly or indirectly caused, or directly or indirectly contributed to, by any crime, damage, death, disease, disorderly behaviour, illness, or injury of a kind described in paragraph (a).
Section 77(1) of the Act sets out the matters that can be addressed through the Local Alcohol Policy. These are policies on any or all of the following matters relating to licensing (and no others):
(a) location of licensed premises by reference to broad areas:
(b) location of licensed premises by reference to proximity to premises of a particular kind or kinds:
(c) location of licensed premises by reference to proximity to facilities of a particular kind or kinds:
(d) whether further licences (or licences of a particular kind or kinds) should be issued for premises in the district concerned, or any stated part of the district:
(e) maximum trading hours:
(f) the issue of licences, or licences of a particular kind or kinds, subject to discretionary conditions:
(g) one-way door restrictions.
Paragraphs (a) to (d) do not apply to special licences, or premises for which a special licence is held or has been applied for.
A Local Alcohol Policy must not include policies on any matter not relating to licensing.
A Local Alcohol Policy is not mandatory, and Council could instead rely on the default hours in the Act; this is not an option considered further.
If Council determines to have a Local Alcohol Policy (LAP), it must use the Special Consultative Procedure to consult on the draft policy prior to adopting it.
Once a Local Alcohol Policy is in place, licensing bodies must consider it when making decisions about alcohol licensing applications.
The Council currently has the Hastings District and Napier City Council’s Joint Local Alcohol Policy which is a joint policy, adopted by Hastings District Council and Napier City Council. (Refer to Attachment 1).
1.3 Issues
The review is a statutory requirement under Section 97 of the Act. The review is required to be completed by 21 August 2025.
The preferred option for this review is to establish a joint governance structure so that Local Alcohol Policy provisions and communications are regionally consistent and coordinated as much as possible.
1.4 The LAP review process
Staff are currently at Step 1 of the review process (as per diagram below). The below graphic illustrates the process for the LAP review if it were to continue:
Diagram 1: Local Alcohol Policy review process
1.5 Significance and Engagement
The LAP review process must follow the Special Consultative Procedure required under section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002, enabling stakeholder engagement on the policy.
Producing the LAP also requires consultation with the Police, inspectors, and Medical Officers of Health.
Additional research and evidence gathering is underway to support Council with the review.
1.6 Implications
Financial
The LAP process will incur fees associated with:
· a legal review.
· minimal costs for Special Consultative Procedure, including public notification.
· administration and Officer time associated with the review process.
These costs will be sourced from the existing compliance budget in the 2024-2025 years.
Social & Policy
The Council is required to give effect to the purpose of local government as set out in section 10 of the Local Government Act 2002. That purpose is to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities, and to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of communities in the present and for the future.
When producing the LAP, Councils must have regard to a range of matters specified in the Act, including the nature and severity of the alcohol-related problems arising in the district. Data and research on alcohol-related harm is being collated by Officers to inform the issues and options paper. Alcohol remains the most harmful drug for the total population when separately considering harm to those who use it, and harm to others. Māori tend to be overrepresented in drug harm incidents and have disproportionate alcohol-related harm (as cited in Crossin, et al., 2023). A report on the costs of alcohol harms in New Zealand, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and conducted by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), provides updated evidence, with an estimated total cost of alcohol harm based on disability-adjusted life years is $9.1b[1].
Risk
If there is any increase in time required to complete the review, this might impact other work commitments. If there is more time required to complete the review due to stakeholder unavailability or if there are difficulties getting agreement to the LAP, then timeframes could be impacted. If there are time or budget constraints, then this might impact on deliverables.
Strategy
Napier City Council and Hastings District Council, in collaboration with various agencies, adopted a Joint Alcohol Strategy in 2017 with a vision of a safe and healthy community, free from alcohol-related harm.
Regulation, including the Local Alcohol Policy, represents one of six key council areas in of influence in the Joint Alcohol Strategy designated to reduce alcohol-related harm.
It is important to note that the ongoing Local Alcohol Policy review process will not impact the overarching strategy. The Local Alcohol Policy is a legislative instrument for regulating alcohol licensing and this plays a critical role in reducing alcohol-related harm within our community.
Napier and Hastings are currently reviewing the strategy and are yet to determine a future approach. The review of the Local Alcohol Policy is a statutory requirement and is therefore independent of the strategy. Council officers will continue to work together to ensure a cohesive approach to alcohol harm reduction.
The below diagram shows how the Local Alcohol Policy fits within the strategy.
Diagram 2: Areas of influence in the Joint Alcohol Strategy
1.7 Options
The options available to Council are as follows:
a. Option 1: Review Joint LAP: Continue to have a Joint Local Alcohol Policy and review it, using the Special Consultative Procedure in accordance with Section 97 of the Act. OR
b. Option 2: Individual LAP with Joint Council Governance Structure: proceed with and adopt an individual Local Alcohol Policy for Napier City, using the Special Consultative Procedure in accordance with Section 96(a) and with a Joint Council Governance Structure process.
1.8 Development of preferred option
The selection of a preferred option is a decision for Council. Key considerations of each of the options are included below (Table 1 refers).
Table 1: Local Alcohol
Policy – options analysis
1.8.1 Option 1: Review Joint LAP (Status Quo):
Under this option, the Joint LAP will continue, and Council will commence a review under s97 of the Act. This option is akin to the status quo, it continues with the Joint LAP and progresses the review, using the Special Consultative Procedure. Alcohol-harm reduction objectives are thought to be similar between either option. The Joint LAP process will have higher costs of administration and officer time. The option also requires a more detailed comparative analysis between the two Councils. A Joint LAP process requires a longer timeframe to review, consult, produce, and adopt the policy.
1.8.2 Option 2: Individual LAP, with joint governance structure (Preferred option):
Under this option, two Councils would work together to produce individual LAPs, that is a LAP for Napier and a LAP for Hastings. A joint governance structure could be established to consider research and present an issues and options paper before considering the draft policy settings. Council would use the Special Consultative Procedure for Napier and Hastings. Alcohol-harm reduction objectives are thought to be similar between either option.
1.9 Advantages of preferred option
There are clear advantages for having a Napier City Council LAP that has been developed within a joint governance structure process. The advantages include:
· Efficiency gains from joint Council workshops.
· Aligned communication messages and a regionally coordinated approach.
· More streamlined process with less comparative analysis required.
· Less requirement on negotiation between Councils, no additional meetings or closed meetings due to one Council making decision before another.
· Less costly because of reduced administration time and officer time because the process will be coordinated between Hastings District and Napier City.
· Policy settings are considered and informed jointly for Hastings and Napier.
1.10 Next steps
If the recommended option is selected, the next step is to develop the joint governance structure process and terms of reference before considering the research, issues and options paper. The purpose of the joint governance structure will be to enhance alignment between the LAP provisions while respecting each council's autonomy in developing its LAP. The issues and options paper will be brought back to full council.
1 NCC-and-HDC-Joint-Local-Alcohol-Policy-LAP-2019 (Doc Id 1799273)
