The hearing for a Bethlehem liquor licence application with more than 472 objections stacked against it opened today with the applicant's advocate challenging the opposition.

Nine Orchids Ltd is applying for a liquor licence at the former Video Ezy building in Bethlehem.

Craig Shearer addresses the hearing panel at Tauranga City Council this morning.

Consultant Craig Shearer told those attending the hearing at Tauranga City Council this morning there are 472 objections, and nearly all are identical.

They use the same words, are in the same format and have identical concerns, he says.

'It appears someone is trying to manipulate the objection process to their advantage.”

An objection form was delivered to a large number of the residents in the wider Bethlehem area, accompanied by an emotive document with misleading information, encouraging people to oppose the application, says Craig.

The form came with a pre-paid envelope attached.

Six of the 472 submitters asked to be heard, just 1.3 per cent of the submissions.

'In my experience this is a very low turn-out and demonstrates the real level of concern in the community with the application is not huge,” says Craig.

Liquor Licensing Authority guidelines gives the views of people who live within a kilometre of the proposed site more weight than those who live further away.

The guidelines also state concerns of objectors who do not appear, and give no explanation for their absence, will be given little value.

None of the objectors appearing before the authority today live close to the site, which suggests the possible level of personal impact on them from the proposed new liquor store will be low, says Craig.

'No adjacent residential neighbour has indicated they wish to be heard at the hearing.

'In fact there are no attendees from anyone residing within almost one kilometre by road from the proposed location.”

There are also no objections lodged by the Montessori pre-school or the Kidwise pre-school located behind the Bethlehem shops.

He also attacked an apparent reliance on the numbers by Tauranga City Council liquor licensing inspector Graeme Cushing and Police alcohol harm reduction officer Sergeant Nigel McGlone.

'It is the issues and the evidence base supporting them that are important in assessing the application against the criteria, not the numbers of times the issue is expressed,” says Craig.

Objectors who want to be heard by the District Licensing Committee are Margaret Murray-Benge, Alan Lawton, David Flett and Nicholas Webb.

The licencing committee is chairman Murray Clearwater and committee members Mary Dillon and David Stewart.

The hearing in the council chambers was attended by about 40 residents, mostly elderly.