Tightening rules around the sale of liquor in Whanganui will not be a silver bullet in reducing harm from alcohol but will be a base for the community to work from.
That's the view of Senior Sergeant Nigel Allan who told Whanganui District Council's statutory management committee that police supported all aspects of council's proposed local alcohol policy.
The committee was hearing submissions on the alcohol policy yesterday.
It proposes limiting the number of off-licensed premises (except supermarkets and grocery stores) to the current 16, no off-licence sales after 9pm, a 2am closing time for bars and pubs and requiring them to have a one-way door restriction one hour before closing.
New off-licences, such as bottles stores, will be barred from setting up near sensitive sites such as schools, marae and places of worship.
"It's a basis from which we can collectively work as a community to address some of the underlying issues around alcohol-related harm," Mr Allan said.
The proposed policy was largely backed by health and community groups at the submission hearings and some, such as Nga Tai o Te Awa, wanted a reduced number of off-licences.
Liquor sellers, however, held some concerns around closing hours.
Both major supermarket chains - Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises - opposed the 9pm restrictions for off-licences.
Progressive (Countdown and Super Value) said it would support it being 10pm while Foodstuffs (Pak 'n Save, New World, and Four Square) wanted 11pm.
Paul Radich from Progressive Enterprises said the policy had to be balanced and based on evidence.
"What is responsible and what is balanced in terms of harms faced by the community and us as a business?"
Wanganui East Club manager Allan Wakeling said the proposed policy would force clubs to stop selling alcohol at 12am as opposed to the current 1am.
"We fail to see what benefit there would be to the community to have clubs close at 12am while other establishments are able to continue selling liquor until 2am."
Mainstreet Whanganui submitted supported all aspects of the policy said their operations staff saw first hand the damage done to private and public property in the CBD from alcohol-induced behaviour .
Interim chair Peter Robinson said restrictions on the sale of alcohol was necessary while possibly not fair on the majority.
"The problem is having to deal with the 10 per cent who don't follow the rules so we have to bring in restrictions on the other 90 per cent," he said.
"It's people moving out of a licensed premise to the next. Some people call it boisterous, others call it anti-social."
The final Local Alcohol Policy will be adopted next month following deliberations.