Five recommended for district licensing panel

Five people are to be considered as list members of a new committee to be responsible for considering all alcohol licence applications in Dunedin.

The Dunedin City Council will be asked tomorrow to approve the appointments to the district licensing committee, which will make decisions on how alcohol is sold and supplied in the city.

The committee is a new requirement as part of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, which was passed on December 18, 2012, replacing the Sale of Liquor Act 1989, and will take effect from December 18 this year.

The five list members join former city councillor Colin Weatherall, who was appointed commissioner and chairman of the committee earlier this year.

Dunedin city councillor Andrew Noone, who has extensive experience with resource consent application hearings, has been appointed deputy chairman.

Other names recommended for approval are Queenstown lawyer Tanya Surrey, who has worked for the Liquor Licensing Authority, as an inspector for the Queenstown Lakes district licensing agency as an inspector and representing clients before the LLA; Dunedin justice of the peace and former policeman Colin Lind, who during his time in the Ministry of Transport was in charge of the region's prosecution section; Dunedin city councillor David Benson-Pope, who has extensive committee experience and is an experienced RMA commissioner; private investigator Wayne Idour, who as a member of the police was responsible for training local police staff on the Sale of Liquor Act 1989 when it was introduced and after leaving the police provided training on the Sale of Liquor Act and host responsibility to people seeking manager's certificates, and Peter Burrows, a former licensee who recently sold his restaurant but still holds a manager's certificate.

Council liquor licensing and projects officer Kevin Mechen said the selection panel assessed six applicants against a matrix provided by the Ministry of Justice.

He said earlier the five selected had an important role to play in Dunedin and were the best mix available of experience, skill and expertise.

Two list members must always be available to join the chairman for hearings, and having a pool of five people should ensure there was always a suitable person available to constitute a committee when required.

The list members are to be approved until February 2015 initially.

debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz

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