Wellington City Council (the Council) is proposing to develop a Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) to simplify the alcohol licensing process and help minimise harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol in our community. We do not currently have a LAP in Wellington city.

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the Act) allows councils to develop a LAP to set rules around the sale and supply of alcohol which are tailored to local needs and preferences. These rules may relate to licensed premises such as bars, restaurants, social clubs, supermarkets, and bottle stores, and can apply to specific areas or across the whole city.

A LAP may include policies on opening hours, location, proximity, density, one-way door conditions, and other discretionary conditions. A LAP can also include some policies related to licensed events such as festivals. These policies can help to manage alcohol availability in the district to reduce alcohol-related harm.

Any rules or policies included in a LAP must directly relate to alcohol licensing.

The purpose of the alcohol licensing framework within the Act is to provide reasonable control over the sale and supply of alcohol in order to minimise harm caused by excessive or inappropriate consumption of alcohol.

Without a LAP in place, each individual alcohol licence application is assessed under the criteria in the Act on a case-by-case basis by the District Licensing Committee (DLC). Any member of the public or the reporting agencies under the Act (Police, the Medical Officer of Health, licensing inspectors) can object to a licence application, which may require a hearing before the DLC. Objections can cause significant delays to the application process and can create uncertainty for applicants by leading to, for example, changes in licensing conditions or declined licence applications.

Having a LAP can simplify the licensing process by providing clear, locally-relevant rules for licensing that reflect our community’s needs and preferences. This may help to:

• provide clarity and certainty for licence applicants,
• reduce the number of objections to licence applications, and
• reduce alcohol-related harm in our city by managing alcohol availability.

We will be talking to key organisations and community groups to learn more about alcohol-related issues in the city. Our stakeholders include our reporting agencies, business owners, health, and social service organisations.

Later this year we will seek further feedback from the community before collating all the evidence required to determine whether a LAP is recommended. We will then brief councillors on our findings.

If a LAP is recommended, we will workshop the potential elements of a LAP with councillors following this year’s local government elections. The next step, if agreed by councillors, will be to gather public feedback on a draft LAP in 2026. After the feedback is analysed, a final version will be presented to councillors for adoption.

To stay informed about the development of the LAP, click the 'Follow' button (top of this page) to sign up for updates. We will share more information about how you can have your say throughout the process.