Council updates, Have your say  |  11 Jun 2025

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The Mayor and Councillors are now weighing up the community’s views on how alcohol should be sold and supplied in Christchurch.

The deliberations are the latest phase of Christchurch City Council’s development of a Local Alcohol Policy (LAP). Building on months of research, the Council took its Draft LAP out for public feedback in April, proposing three main ways of addressing alcohol-related harm in the district: 

  • All off-licence retailers must stop selling alcohol at 9pm daily. This includes bottle stores and supermarkets. 

  • A freeze on new off-licences in high-deprivation communities. 

  • Restricting new bottle stores from setting up near addiction treatment/rehabilitation centres, secondary schools and primary schools. 

Today, the elected council is considering the 415 submissions received overall, and hearing from 29 submitters who wanted to share their views in person. 

Of the submissions, 88% were from individuals and 12% were from organisations, and 10% indicated that they hold a liquor licence. 

Acting Mayor Pauline Cotter says the Council had completed a lot of research into the issues over the past year while developing the Draft Local Alcohol Policy. 

“Our Draft policy wouldn’t have been possible without the close engagement of the public, health professionals, retailers and hospitality, and we’d like to thank every organisation and individual for their input,” Acting Mayor Cotter says. 

“The response to our draft policy aligns with what we’ve been hearing all along. Overall it’s looking like our community wants an approach to addressing alcohol-related harm in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula that’s proportionate as well as effective. 

“There’s concern about the impacts of alcohol-related harm – some submitters are concerned about the ease with which alcohol can be accessed in the city and the disproportionate impact that it has on vulnerable communities and individuals.  

“Ultimately, there’s still a wide range of views about the impact of alcohol, and the most appropriate way to address it. That’s where the elected Council comes in – it’s our job to weigh up every point of view and help deliver a policy tailor-made for Christchurch’s needs.” 

Any council can develop its own LAP, which can set the number, location, and opening hours of licenced premises, such as bars, cafés and restaurants, supermarkets and bottle stores. These rules can apply across either the whole city and district or only in identified local areas.   

The next step is for councillors to deliberate, and then to decide before the local elections in October 2025 whether to adopt a final Local Alcohol Policy.