Christchurch city councillors voted to scrap a provisional policy restricting the trading hours of Christchurch bars - and come up with a new one.

Plans to restrict central Christchurch bars' opening hours have been scrapped after more than five years and $1 million spent developing them.

Bar owners remain unhappy, however, as city councillors want a new Local Alcohol Policy (LAP) developed and operational within 18 months.

Councillors resolved to discontinue the current process for a provisional LAP in a public-excluded meeting this week. They told council staff to prepare options for a new draft LAP and timeline.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Dr Alistair Humphrey hopes the council can almost replicate its original proposed policy.

The council has grappled with the proposed LAP since releasing it for consultation in 2013. It spent nearly $1.1m on the process.

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The policy, which set restrictions on where and when alcohol could be sold, was designed to minimise alcohol-related harm in the community.

SUPPLIED Christchurch bar owner Max Bremner, right, is unhappy with the council's decision to pursue a new local alcohol policy.

Buying and selling alcohol is governed by the hours set in the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act. Hospitality New Zealand (HNZ) wants this to continue.

The act states alcohol can be sold between 8am and 4am by an on-licence and between 7am and 11pm for off-licence outlets.

The original local policy included a closing time of 3am and a one-way door policy from 1am for taverns, bars, pubs, night clubs and clubs in a small central city precinct. It proposed a 1am closing time elsewhere.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel says the focus is on "local communities having a say".

Off-licence trading hours were to be limited between 9am and 9pm.

Following submissions and appeals, the council widened its central city precinct to include Victoria St, south of Salisbury St. It proposed a temporary 3am closing time for bars in north Victoria St, between Salisbury St and Bealey Ave, which would change to 1am after three years in line with suburban pubs.

Off-licence trading hours would be between 7am and 10pm, instead of 9am and 9pm.

However, the High Court ordered the council to reconsider its alcohol policy after the hospitality sector raised concerns about its Victoria St decision.

HNZ's proceedings focussed on the decision to split the street at the Salisbury St intersection.

On Friday, Max Bremner, owner of The Bog, Bealey Ave Speights Ale House and Fat Eddies, said the council had "wimped out".



"They had a big chance to go back to the [act's] default hours, which would bring young people back into the city.

"That's what Auckland and Wellington have done," he said.

HNZ South Island area manager Amy McLellan-Minty called the council's decision to pursue a new LAP "disappointing".

"Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown all use national default hours and don't need local policies.

"We've been running with those hours for five years, since December 2012, without any major problems," she said.



Canterbury Medical Officer of Health Dr Alistair Humphrey believed the original local policy was "good" and hoped the new one would be similar.

"It allowed for a vibrant night-time economy inside the frame of the central city, where police could control it.

"If we don't limit alcohol consumption across the city it's difficult for the police to manage," Humphrey said.

"We see the result in the emergency department, with assaults, sexual assaults, domestic violence and injuries from intoxication. It's when people move around between the venues that the trouble happens."

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the policy did not cover the issue of communities having a say.

"I was the minister who was behind the original concept of a local alcohol plan.

"The real purpose behind it wasn't so much the focus on a central city, the focus was on local communities having a say about whether they wanted bars and restaurants [or] licensed premises in their neighbourhoods.

"You'll see it now – somebody will propose an off-licence somewhere, the local community will get up in arms, they'll protest and the company that's setting it up might back off.

"But that's not a process you can rely on," Dalziel said.

Council head of strategic policy Helen Beaumont said it had been more than five years since the council started developing the policy.

The council had the "know-how, the relationships and all the background information in place" and therefore estimated it could have a new LAP within 18 months.