Foodstuffs North Island, the company that owns Four Square, New World, Pak’n Save and Liquorland brands, has lodged an appeal against the Eastern Bay’s Provisional Local Alcohol Policy.

Whakatāne, Kawerau and Ōpōtiki district councils each voted to adopt the revised joint local alcohol policy in July and August. Among other provisions, the policy sets maximum trading hours for liquor outlets.

Currently these are different for the three districts, however, the revised policy aims to align trading hours across the Eastern Bay.

The provisional policy has set off-licence hours at 9am to 10pm, which is opposed by Foodstuffs. Currently, off-licence premises can start selling alcohol at 8am in Kawerau and 7am in Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne.

At a hearing in June, Foodstuffs North Island submitted that it considered a restriction to the morning opening hours for supermarkets and grocery stores, whether it was set at 8am or 9am, to be unreasonable and “a disproportionate response to the risk of alcohol-related harm”.

It asked that the restriction be removed from the policy. It said most of its supermarket and grocery stores were already open at 7am and wished to offer their customers the freedom to purchase the full range of products regardless of the time they needed or chose to shop.

Submissions from local people and organisations, Te Ika Whenua Hauora in Murupara and Whakaatu Whanaunga Trust in Ōpōtiki, voiced concerns about children going to school without lunch due to parents having the ability to buy alcohol instead and children witnessing drunken behaviour in the streets on the way to school.

One parent of a year six student submitted that her daughter had witnessed several domestic violence incidents outside her Kawerau school, which had three liquor outlets within 600 metres.

“She has seen groups walk past carrying alcohol and the school has also been locked down by the Armed Offenders (Squad),” the submitter said.

A previous appeal by both Foodstuffs North Island and Woolworths New Zealand, which owns Countdown supermarkets, against the Auckland District Council’s attempts to implement a similar local alcohol policy in 2015 was resolved in the Supreme Court just this year.

Whakatāne Pak'n Save.

Whakatāne District Council strategy and performance manager Leny Woolsey confirmed an appeal had been received against the policy from Foodstuffs North Island.

“All three councils will work together to determine suitable next steps for addressing this appeal over the coming months,” she said.

Foodstuffs spokesperson Emma Wooster said the company was committed to the safe and responsible sale and supply of alcohol at its stores and supported the maximum alcohol sale hours set by central Government in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act, which is currently from 7am to 11pm.

“The trading hours of each store vary, based on the needs of the community. Customers who drink responsibly also need flexibility around their shopping times as they’re juggling family and work commitments. We’re appealing because our locally owned and operated stores in Kawerau, Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne all open before 9am, so if the proposal goes ahead, customers who come in before 9am and want to buy beer or wine, as a part of their shop, won’t be able to do so.”

The Alcohol Regulatory & Licensing Authority said no hearing date had yet been set.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.