Chch City Council to meet on Wednesday about alcohol ban

Christchurch City Council will hold a special meeting at midday on Wednesday (13 November) to discuss bringing in a central city weekend ban on alcohol in public.

The meeting will be in the main chambers on the ground floor of the Council offices on Tuam Street and is open to the public.

The idea for a public alcohol ban has been proposed by the Christchurch Police. If introduced, it would give officers powers to deal with public drinking or the carrying of alcohol between 7pm and 7am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights within the central city’s four avenues.

It would not apply to people in supervised bar areas or those carrying alcohol to a restaurant or an inner-city home or apartment. Everyone spoken to would first be given a chance to take their alcohol away, but Police officers would have the power to enforce the ban if their advice is not readily taken up.

For this kind of change, a month must be given for people to have their say about the scheme, and Wednesday’s extra meeting has been called by Mayor Garry Moore so that Christchurch could have the ban in place by Christmas.

Last week Police Inspector David Lawry asked the Council to support the ban. He believes it could further improve public safety and help people to feel safer in the central city. His staff estimate that up to 80 per cent of disorder offences involve people who have been drinking.ng.

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