2.3 Local Alcohol Policies (LAPs)

Why a LAP Matters to a Duty Manager

The trading hours and conditions on your premises' licence may not be the national default. They may be set — or tightened — by your council's Local Alcohol Policy (LAP). US 4646 PC 1.8 expects you to understand the purpose and function of a LAP because, in practice, the LAP is the single biggest source of local variation in licence conditions across New Zealand.

Two premises with identical licence categories, one in Auckland and one in a council with no LAP, can have very different maximum trading hours and one-way door rules. Reading your licence without reading the local LAP leaves you exposed.

What a LAP Is and Who Makes It

A LAP is a policy made by a territorial authority under subpart 7 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012. The making process has two distinguishing features:

1. Consultation with the reporting bodies — the territorial authority must consult Police, the Medical Officer of Health, and alcohol licensing inspectors.
2. Special consultative procedure under the Local Government Act 2002 — this opens the draft LAP to public submissions, giving the community the input that section 3 of the 2012 Act promises.

A LAP is not a free-standing council policy. It is a statutory instrument under the 2012 Act and can only contain what the Act allows.

Provisional LAPs — the ARLA Appeal Route Was Repealed in 2023

A LAP still passes through a provisional stage after consultation, before the territorial authority adopts it. What changed is what happens at that stage.

Under the original 2012 scheme, a person who had made a submission on the draft could appeal an element of the provisional LAP to ARLA on the ground that it was unreasonable in light of the object of the Act. An appealed element did not take effect until the appeal was resolved. That appeal route became the single biggest reason LAPs stalled — councils spent years defending elements before ARLA, and many abandoned their policies.

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation) Amendment Act 2023, in force from 31 August 2023, removed appeals against provisional local alcohol policies to ARLA. A council that completes the statutory process now adopts its LAP without an ARLA appeal stage.

Two traps follow:

• There was never an "ARLA approval" requirement. Even before 2023 it was an appeal right for submitters, not a pre-approval step. Any statement that ARLA must approve restrictive elements before they take effect is wrong under both the old and the new law.
• Older training material is out of date. Guides, council pages and provider notes written before September 2023 still describe the appeal route — some official pages have not caught up. Check the date on anything that tells you a provisional LAP can be appealed.

The same 2023 Act also let DLCs and ARLA decline a licence renewal that is inconsistent with a LAP, which strengthened LAPs at the same time as it removed the appeal.

What a LAP May Contain (Section 77)

Section 77 sets out the permitted contents of a LAP. A LAP may include policies on:

• (a) the location of licensed premises by reference to broad areas (for example, a city centre zone vs. suburban zones);
• (b) location by reference to proximity to premises of a particular kind (for example, near other off-licences);
• (c) location by reference to proximity to facilities of a particular kind (for example, schools, places of worship, marae, or youth facilities);
• (d) whether further licences (or particular kinds of licences) should be issued for an area;
• (e) maximum trading hours;
• (f) discretionary conditions that may be imposed by the DLC on licences in the area;
• (g) one-way door restrictions (after a specified time, no new patrons may enter, though those already inside may remain).

Two Critical Exclusions

First, policies (a) to (d) do NOT apply to special licences. A special licence is for a one-off event or series of events, and a LAP cannot use location-density controls to block a properly made special licence application. Policies (e) to (g) — hours, discretionary conditions, and one-way doors — can still apply to special licences.

Second, a LAP must not include policies on non-licensing matters. A council cannot use a LAP to pursue unrelated urban-design, transport, or economic-development goals. If a LAP strays outside the s77 list, it is ultra vires the Act.

These two exclusions are reliable exam traps. A distractor that says "a LAP can restrict special licences on proximity-to-schools grounds" is wrong under (a)–(d). A distractor that says "a LAP can set noise-control rules for licensed premises" is wrong because noise is a non-licensing matter handled under the Resource Management Act and district plans.

Effect of a LAP on DLC Decisions

When a LAP is in force, a DLC must have regard to it when determining licence applications. This is not a discretion to ignore; it is a statutory direction. The practical effects are:

• Maximum trading hours in the LAP cap what the DLC can grant. If the LAP sets a 3 am maximum for on-licences in a zone, the DLC cannot grant a 4 am licence in that zone, even though the national default is 4 am.
• One-way door restrictions in the LAP must be reflected in licence conditions for the relevant premises.
• Discretionary conditions listed in the LAP can be imposed by the DLC as conditions on individual licences.
• Density/location controls under (a)–(d) guide whether new licences should be issued in an area at all.

Default National Maxima

Where there is no LAP, or the LAP is silent on a point, the national default maxima apply. These are the statutory maximum trading hours set by the Act:

A LAP can only make these shorter, never longer. A council cannot, through a LAP, authorise 5 am on-licence trading; the national maximum is a ceiling on councils as well as on licensees.

LAP Sets MAXIMA, Not Minimum Hours

A common exam trap is to treat LAP hours as the hours a premises must trade. They are not. The LAP sets the maximum a licence may permit. The licence itself may permit fewer hours, and the duty manager may choose to close earlier still. A premises with a 3 am LAP maximum may be licensed to 1 am and may, on a quiet night, close at midnight.

Putting It Together: A Worked Example

Imagine a council adopts a LAP that sets a maximum on-licence trading hour of 3:00 am for the city centre zone, with a one-way door from 1:00 am, and a policy that no new off-licences will be issued within 100 m of a school. A new bar applies for an on-licence in the city centre seeking 4:00 am trading. The DLC must have regard to the LAP and cannot grant 4:00 am; the maximum it can grant is 3:00 am, and a 1:00 am one-way door condition must be attached. A separate applicant for an off-licence within 100 m of a school faces the (c)/(d) policy. By contrast, an applicant for a special licence for a one-off function in the same zone cannot be blocked under the proximity policies, though the LAP's hours and one-way door provisions can still shape the conditions.

The Exam Trap Summary

• A LAP cannot impose conditions on non-licensing matters.
• Policies (a)–(d) on location and density do not apply to special licences.
• A LAP sets maximum hours; premises may trade less.
• Default maxima (no LAP or LAP silent): on-licence/club 8 am–4 am; off-licence 7 am–11 pm.
• A LAP still has a provisional stage, but appeals against provisional LAPs to ARLA were repealed on 31 August 2023 — there is no ARLA approval or appeal step now.

For a duty manager, the operational lesson is simple: always read the licence and the LAP together. The licence tells you what your premises may do; the LAP tells you why those conditions exist and what the upper bound was that the DLC had to work within.