Tauranga City Council has courageously back flipped over its public drinking stance, reversing a proposal to introduce blanket 24/7 alcohol bans in many public parks and beaches.

The council believes people's right to have a wine on the beach should be protected after turning down proposals to ban alcohol from many of the region's beaches.

Proposed 24/7 liquor bans along the entire ocean beach, and in many of the city's parks and reserves have been rejected following the public submission process.
Liquor free zones as outlined in the Liquor and Vehicle Free Bylaw 2008 still exist. The newly adopted zones will be included in the updated 2010 Bylaw and will be effective from 1 December. There will also be a new provision for temporary liquor-free areas for events.
The new zones include areas where there is a history of reported problems with public drinking. They are the Waitaha Reserve, including the Welcome Bay Hall site,
Grenada Park, and the Merivale shops and Surrey Grove Reserve.
The public are still permitted to drink on coastal beaches and at the Tauranga and Wharepai Domains, the Carlton Street Reserve, Fraser Street Number 1 and Fraser Street Number 2 Reserves, Motiti Reserve, Taylor Reserve and Topaz Drive Reserve, the
Harrisons Cut carpark which is off Papamoa Beach Road, The carpark opposite Stella Place, and the Papamoa Domain excluding the Papamoa Beach Holiday Park.
The council received more than 240 submissions, and from 16 people on Monday, many of whom opposed the ocean beach ban.
The tenor of the submission was that the blanket liquor bans will punish the 99.9 per cent of the city's population who do drink responsibly in public, but do nothing to address any of the causes of public alcohol abuse.
It would be impossible to enforce and would be seen as a big brother tactic.
"Council proposed these areas as liquor-free zones following suggestions from members of the public," says Mayor Stuart Crosby.
"As the submission process has clearly shown us, most people would rather the beach was not included - so that's the decision we've made. And we didn't have enough evidence to make most of the other areas liquor-free zones."
"The key message that we want to stress is that people should take their rubbish home with them. One of the biggest issues we have with people drinking in public places is the rubbish that is sometimes left behind, particularly glass bottles, which can cause a real hazard to the public."
In discussion councillors say the proposed liquor ban at the Wharepai Domain would simply move the vagrant drinkers to the edge of the new zone, as the CBD liquor free zone moved them to The Domain.
A liquor ban on The Domain will make criminals of the public who drink a beer while watching sporting events, but do nothing for the vagrants' alcohol abuse issues.