Auckland’s Provisional Local Alcohol Policy (PLAP) has been approved by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Committee (ARLA), marking a significant step towards its implementation.
The policy includes stricter trading hours, limiting alcohol sales to 9 p.m. in bottle shops and supermarkets across the region. Alcohol can be sold until 11 p.m. in off-license stores, including bottle stores and supermarkets. A governing body meeting will decide when this policy will come into force.
The policy aims to reduce alcohol harm by allowing councils and local communities to influence the location, number, and trading hours of businesses licensed to sell alcohol.
The council’s general manager of policy, Louise Mason, said the implementation of PLAP has been going on for a long time after nine years of appeals and a court battle with supermarket giants.
PLAP was approved in 2015 but never came into effect. Woolworths and Foodstuffs challenged two aspects: the 9 am to 9 pm maximum trading hours for off-licenses and restrictions on new off-licenses in certain parts of the city. In May 2023, the court dismissed the supermarkets’ appeals.
A local alcohol policy would allow better decisions at a local level, benefiting 23 priority areas, predominantly in south and West Auckland.
Manurewa-Papakura ward councilor Angela Dalton expressed hope that the policy would be implemented, stating that the legal battle was disappointing but that it was great news that, finally, the appeals were over.
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