During hearings on a review of the Dunedin City Council’s local alcohol policy (Lap) last year, a proposed prohibition on the sale of alcohol in glass containers, of a certain volume, within an area near the University of Otago was raised.
However, during an update on the Lap at a council meeting on Tuesday, alcohol, psychoactive substances and gambling adviser Kevin Mechen said the Lap could "only include matters that relate to licensing".
A prohibition on glass sales could only be across "the whole district" and not isolated areas.
No process could be put in place that created an uneven playing field.
Cr Jim O’Malley, who until recently chaired the hearings committee, said this information had not come up in last year’s hearings.
Mr Mechen later said a local alcohol ban area, as a bylaw, would need to be supported by crime statistics.
But there was no reason why the Lap could not have zones of influence that were smaller than the city.
Council chief executive Sandy Graham said such a ban could potentially impact businesses that sat outside the defined area, and as she understood it was not something that could be done as part of the Lap.
Deputy mayor Cherry Lucas said Lincoln University had a ban on glass across all of its property, and questioned if this was something the University of Otago could initiate separately across all of its halls of residence.
Cr O’Malley said, while they had not been well-prepared going into the hearings, the consultation and feedback received had "got us to a good place".
More education was required for both the committee and council on matters such as glass ban areas.
Cr Andrew Whiley said the voice of the city’s student population was "missed" during last year’s consultation.
Many students were either busy with exams or had left town by then, and had not been engaged with to the level they should have been.
Mr Mechen said he was advised around late August last year the "whole thing had to be done and dusted" by February this year.
"Everything got truncated, so it was nowhere near as thorough as I wanted it to be.
"But this time, there will definitely be thoroughness."
The council approved recommendations to prepare and consult upon a revised consultation document for the Lap.
