Gisborne district councillors have quickly decided to undertake a statutory review of the 2015 Alcohol Control Bylaw.

The bylaw must be reviewed by June 2025, otherwise a new bylaw will need to be adopted within two years of that date.

Councillors decided a bylaw was the most appropriate way of regulating alcohol-induced incidents which impacted on public safety.

Councillor Larry Foster at first was happy to move the staff recommendation for a review before expressing a concern.

Foster said the bylaw could be contentious when activated because of people congregating to drink in a public place.

He did not want responsible people having “a nice recreational wine” to be targeted, only those people “abusing the privilege”.

Foster said he was concerned that once there was a bylaw, it was enforceable by the police.

He asked if there was another mechanism for a scenario where responsible people did not abuse “the privilege”, but others did.

Council director of sustainable futures Jo Noble said if councillors did not consider a bylaw to be appropriate, the alternative was education and awareness.

That would mean police could only intervene if people caused disorder.

“Obviously police use their discretion,” Noble said.

Any bylaw would not be high on their priorities unless a congregation of people was causing an issue.

Foster said he would be happy to have a bylaw (and bylaw review), with police using their discretion.

Councillors went on to adopt the recommendation for a review.

If the review is approved, the next steps will be a workshop for councillors, followed by iwi and stakeholder pre-engagement.

A full consultation process is then required under the Local Government Act.

Adoption of the final bylaw is planned for mid-2025.

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The paper before councillors included preliminary research and findings for the bylaw review including the following police material.

• The total number of alcohol-related incidents recorded in the district was 14,812 from September 2019 to June 2024.

• That was an average of 2950 recorded incidents 2019 to 2024.

• Drink-driving is also a significant concern, with 2360 related incidents.

• There were 270 reported breaches of alcohol bans.

• There has been a downward trend in breaches, peaking at 79 in 2019 but dropping to 27 by 2023.

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Summary of data for the city centre alcohol ban area for September 2019 to June 2024:

• The city centre alcohol ban area accounts for 2570 of total incidents, which is approximately 18% of all district-wide alcohol-related records.

• June had the highest number of incidents (199), suggesting a potential correlation with specific events or seasonal factors.

• The winter months (May, June, July) showed relatively consistent high numbers, ranging from 170 to 199 incidents.

• The last quarter of the year (October, November, December) shows a consistent rise in the number of incidents, with an average of 175 cases reported each month.

This would suggest a potential correlation with the Rhythm and Vines festival and New Year celebrations.

• The remaining months show a consistent number of incidents at an average of 150 incidents per month.

• Alcohol ban breaches: There is inconsistency in the number of breaches, but a general upward trend from five in 2019 to 26 in 2023.