Kāpiti Coast District Council is seeking input from the community to inform the potential creation of a local alcohol policy for the district.

Local alcohol policies are commonly used by councils to better manage the sale and supply of alcohol in communities. They can specify things like how far licenced premises can be from public facilities, how many types of licences can be issued in the district, and hours of trading.

Group Manager for Strategy, Growth and Recovery Natasha Tod says the first stage of developing any potential policy is to gather research and hear from the community about the impacts of alcohol in their lives.

“To build a picture of the role alcohol plays in our community we would like to hear from individuals, groups and organisations to help us figure out if a local alcohol policy could be a useful tool in reducing the harm from alcohol,” Ms Tod says.

“While many people use alcohol responsibly, the harm to people, families and the wider community can be devastating. The costs of alcohol-related harm is met by local communities so if a local alcohol policy will reduce that harm it is worth pursuing.”

To help gather the information needed to make a decision about a policy for Kāpiti a survey is now available to be completed, either online or in hard copy. Council will also be contacting partner and stakeholder organisations to seek their input.

“We’re looking to gather information about things like the types of alcohol being consumed, how and where it is purchased, how often people drink and the impacts of alcohol people may have experienced or witnessed.

“We’d also like to gauge what people think about the number of liquor outlets we have in Kāpiti and their opening hours.”

Together with other research this community input will help inform our work on whether or not a local alcohol policy is right for all or part of Kāpiti and, if it is, what settings are appropriate. If a policy is progressed, it will be developed and released in draft form for public consultation in 2022.

“We know this can be personal information so there is no need to provide identifying information to complete the survey,” Ms Tod says.

“The survey will remain open to complete until December, so we urge those in the community to share this with their friends and families.”

Visit haveyoursay.kapiticoast.govt.nz/kapiti-community-alcohol-survey-2021 for more information and to complete the survey.

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