Council liquor curbs on clubs ‘not right’

Press, 2 August 1977, Page 6

Council liquor curbs on clubs ‘not right’

County councils had noi right to impose conditions! on sporting bodies applying for liquor licences just be-' cause the sports groups were council tenants. Cr A. Y.| Shuker told the Paparuaj County Council last evening. "We can do absolutely nothing.” he said. “We can’t put restrictions on a club) when the Licensing Control Commission has granted it a liquor licence. It would be! superceding the commission,! which is a Governmentlegislated power.” Cr Shuker was comment-

iing on a report from the 1 council’s reserves and domains committee, which wanted to recommend to the I town-planning committee that it be the policy of the council that all clubs with preIrnises on council reserves [which obtained an ancillary liquor licence be required to obtain special town-planning 'approval from the council, i Councillor J- C. Wilson, the chairman of the parks and j reserves committee, said that in considering the report, 'committee members were adI vised that sports clubs were not obliged to give details of i their application for a licence before the hearing but the council was given the opportunity to attend the hearings and present submissions or give evidence if it wished. ••It would appear that few problems could be experienced from reserves occupied by single lessees, but multiuse reserves would require some controls imposed on their uses by the council.” said Cr Wilson. “The committee mav wish to insist that the clubs be required to have a conditional-use application, which would be in line with the council by-laws on trading and intoxicating liquors.” Councillor Shuker said that ;a better attitude for the 'council to take on the matiter would be to write to the I various sporting groups in. | the county to ask them to | keep the council informed of I their applications, so that they could then be made aware of any council requireIments. L 1 . “But I don’t think the council can put restrictions on a club when the Licensing! Control Commission has said; that they are allowed to have' liquor," he said. The chairman of the council, Cr J. Y. Pethig, said that he was aware the ancillarylicence question was a “grey area.” and he knew that a number of other local bodies (were concerned about the 'implications of it.

Councillor J. D. Annan, the county engineer, said that applications from sporting bodies for licences were referred to the Health Department and possibly other departments, but at no stage were they referred to local authorities.

“Where the premises of the sporting group are situated on council reserves, the terms of the leases have inadequate strength to give the council the ability to impose conditions should the commission grant a licence,” he said.

The council felt that use of these premises under ancillary licences might be contrary to the town-planning scheme or might require a specified departure or conditional use to be approved by the council, he said. The council’s townplanning officer had said that no specific town-planning approval was required, so the matter had therefore been referred to the council’s reserves and domains committee to see if there was any way the council could impose conditions on the sports groups concerned.