Christchurch Liquor Ltd’s application to obtain a licence to sell alcohol at the 62 Riccarton Rd site was publicly notified on September 15 last year.
The Christchurch district licensing committee has now written to objectors to say a pre-hearing will be held "in due course".
Riccarton Bush-Kilmarnock Residents’ Association chairman Tony Simons said he is concerned over the delay between the objections being raised and being heard.
"It’s pretty tough on the objectors to have to make time to actually turn up for a public hearing six months after the original application was lodged," Simons said.
The association objected to the proposed bottle shop, saying there are other such shops in the area, including Liquorland Riccarton, which Simons says is within 200m of the proposed site.
"We just don’t need more liquor shops."
He did not understand why it is taking so long to progress to a hearing, and has emailed Christchurch City Council to ask why.
Until he received the update on Tuesday morning, the lack of communication led Simons to assume the application had been dropped, he said.
"I was quite surprised to get the email (on Tuesday) morning after such a long period of time, that this application was still being pursued."
"The committee will hear preliminary matters, such as objector status and the issue around the notification of the application/timing of the last two objections separately . . . at a pre-hearing conference,” the minute said.
A city council spokesperson said earlier this week a date has not been set for the hearing as preliminary matters needed to be considered first.
