Corrine Smith, Glen McCutcheon and Grant Hewison protested outside Shannon's newest liquor outlet in June. There are now three bottle shops in the town of 1200 people.

An unprecedented boom in bottle shops across the country has councils looking at putting a freeze on new off-licences for at least two years.

Auckland Council, the country's biggest, has plans to stop any new stores in 24 high-risk areas in the city, including the city centre, opening in the next two years.

Horowhenua District Council in the lower North Island is also looking at restricting new alcohol stores and recently adopted a two-year cap on booze shop numbers while Hutt City Council and Whanganui District Council are working through similar policies.

STUART GRANGE / STUFF Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson said communities around the country were worried about the growing number of bottle shops.

In Auckland alone, the number rose from 258 to 501 between 2000 and 2016. The next closest region was Canterbury which had a 62 per cent increase in bottle stores in the same period.

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Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Nicki Jackson said 75 per cent of alcohol was now sold at off-licences as opposed to pubs, bars and hotels.

ANNA PRICE/STUFF Wayne Hawker is urging Christchurch communities to get in behind the opposition to a bottle store in Phillipstown.

Communities around the country were worried about the social impact of that shift, and are pushing back, she said.

Last month in Christchurch, a bid for a new liquor licence in the suburb of Phillipstown ran into massive community backlash because there were already 16 licensed outlets operating within a 2.5km radius.

Phillipstown advocate Wayne Hawker said he was unhappy at the prospect of another licensed outlet, suggesting it was a cynical move to exploit a low socio-economic community.

CHRIS SKELTON/STUFF Maori Warden David Ratu has been involved in opposing liquor licences for every new store in Auckland this year.

"These applications are out of control, given there are well over 1000 licensed premises already operating in Christchurch. It is widely acknowledged that exposure to alcohol in these types of areas contribute to more harm affecting the area."

In June, Corrine Smith of Shannon protested outside her town's newest bottle store, following an unsuccessful court battle to stop the shop in November 2016. Shannon, population 1200, now has three bottle stores.

Keeping people safe from more harm was important, particularly in a vulnerable town such as Shannon, Smith said.

"It's not good for the environment. We should be promoting good health."

The policies, while not law, can be taken into consideration by district licensing communities when granting new liquor licences.

The moves to cap the number of bottle stores in some areas comes as figures from Statistics New Zealand show the number of off-licence liquor stores in New Zealand rose 57.5 per cent between 2000 and 2016.

The figures, which do not include supermarkets, equate to a new bottle store being opened somewhere across the country almost every fortnight.

The Ministry of Health's Health Promotion Agency's most recent study on the relationship between the number of alcohol outlets and social harm found for each additional bottle store in an area there is a 1.2 per cent increase in violent crime, a 1.9 per cent increase in sexual offending and a 1.3 per cent increase in anti-social behaviour, like public drunkenness or harassment, reported to police.

And in rural areas, there was a similar increase in motor vehicle accidents for each new off-licence.

Jackson said while it was a national issue, South Auckland was one of the hardest hit by the rise in bottle store numbers and that had contributed to Auckland having higher rates of violent crime, and alcohol-related hospital admissions than the rest of the country.

"Thankfully Auckland City Council knew the city had a problem, so together with police and the district health developed an evidence-based solution."

Jackson expected liquor companies would use the fact the policies were not law to fight them on a case by case basis.

Maori Warden David Ratu was one of the most passionate advocates, who has been involved in opposing liquor licences for every new store in Auckland this year, Jackson said.

For Ratu, his "baptism of fire" in the issue came just before Christmas, when he made a submission against a new liquor store in his community.

"It wasn't pleasant, the process isn't geared towards individuals from the community, and it's difficult for them when they're going up against big companies and their lawyers," Ratu said.

Since then he's been helping Aucklanders voice their concerns about liquor outlets, but he also had a deeply personal stake in fighting to reduce alcohol related harm.

"I've seen it in my own family, growing up as a kid, the violence, the incarcerations, the hurt.

"I'm a 61-year-old man now, and nothing's changed. Enough is enough."