''Unreasonable'' recommendations are sometimes being made over alcohol licensing in the city, the Dunedin district licensing committee says.
The committee says reporting agencies can ignore the specifics of each case to achieve national consistency and "achieve their own objectives".
The comments come from the committee’s yearly report to the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority. The report, for the financial year to June 30, will be discussed at a city council meeting today.
It says the agencies occasionally made recommendations that were "unreasonable", because they did not relate their evidence to the specific premises before them.
The reporting agencies are the New Zealand Police, the medical officer of health and the licensing inspector.
The committee would make decisions that took the facts of a particular application into consideration, but this method was "not always finding favour" with the agencies, the report said.
"On some occasions, the reporting agencies make recommendations, or oppose applications, in an attempt to achieve some national consistency or achieve their own objectives.
"An example is the objection to special licences being sought to raise money for cancer research or victims because of the link between cancer and alcohol consumption."
Those discussions should be held at a national policy level, it said.The majority of licensees were operating legitimate, regulated businesses that complied with legislation, the report said.
"The [committee] is committed to ongoing communication with the reporting agencies as a means to ensure all parties are aware of each other’s expectations and are happy with each other’s performance."
The report showed a 4% drop in the number of licensed premises in Dunedin, which continued a decline that started in mid-2013.
A number of taverns did not renew their off-licensees because they could not compete with the specialist bottle stores and supermarkets, the report said.
There was a "significant" 70% rise in new licence applications. The majority resulting from premises changing ownership.
They were all considered low risk.
Overall, the number of licensing applications received increased by 9%, lifting the total to 1358.
Last year the council’s Provisional Local Alcohol Policy was successfully appealed by eight parties, including supermarket giants and the police.
The council was still working through amendments to to the policy, the report said.
• The Dunedin City Council will also begin discussions on the draft 10-year-plan today.
The $854 million plan includes proposing rates increases, adding tens of millions of dollars of debt and selling city assets.
