District Licensing Committee

General Info

District Licensing Committee

The Hurunui District Licensing Committee has been appointed to deal with licensing matters for our district.

• Councillor Michael Ward - Chairperson
• Councillor Pauline White
• David Kidd
• Mayor Marie Black

Roles and responsibilities of the committee

The Hurunui District Licensing Committee will decide applications for:

• new and renewal licence and managers’ certificates, regardless of whether these are contested
• temporary authorities and temporary licences
• variation of licences, and
• most enforcement action for special licences.

Deciding licence applications

The Hurunui District Licensing Committee is required to consider a range of criteria when deciding licence applications (see sections 105, 131 and 142 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012). Case law and guidance or practice directions issued by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) will also influence the committee's decisions.

The below appointments were made at a previous Council meeting on 3 September 2019, with Councillor P Redmond also appointed to the committee on 25 October 2019. Hurunui District Licensing Committee List, to be used only if a quorum of three cannot be reached from elected members of the Hurunui District Council.

Waimakariri District Licensing Committee members are:

• Chairperson Neville Atkinson
• Deputy Chairperson Jim Gerard (Commissioner)
• Councillor Wendy Doody
• Councillor Philip Redmond
• Councillor Paul Williams

Hearings

Will the committee have to consider every application?

The Hurunui District Licensing Committee is not able to delegate its decision-making role. However, if an application for a licence or manager’s certificate is uncontested, the chairperson alone is able to decide the application. Contested applications are applications opposed by licensing inspectors, Police or Medical Officers of Health, or objected to by members of the public. Only people with a greater interest than the public generally can object to licence applications.

Public hearings

If there are objections to an application a public hearing will be held unless the objection is deemed vexatious or the applicant does not require a hearing. A guide to the procedures to be used at hearings can be viewed here: District Licensing Committee Practice Notice

To view what (if any) public hearings are scheduled for the month, look here, and they should be listed.