Police have opposed special liquor licences for next year’s Central Otago A&P Show in Omakau and the Vincent motorbike rally in Alexandra.
Hearings will be held this month into the two applications, which are not opposed by Central Otago District Council licensing inspector Ray Applegarth or the Southern District Health Board’s Medical Officer of Health.
The police reports for the applications say police are chiefly concerned with the hours proposed for the licences.
The Central Otago A&P Association has applied for a special licence for the Omakau show, to be held on February 17. Alcohol would be sold from a marquee at the event between noon and 8pm.
Citing the part of the Sales and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that relates to the hours during which alcohol would be sold, police objected, saying they would reconsider their opposition if the applicant changed the application to sell alcohol for only six hours.
For the Vincent County Rally, the application from the Bikers Rights Organisation of New Zealand (Bronz) is to sell alcohol from noon to midnight on the Friday and Saturday of the Galloway event, February 2 and 3 next year, in a "bar tent".
In 2016 and 2017 the hours of the event were amended at the police’s request to from noon to 4pm, then 5pm to midnight.
Police say 12 hours of continuous trading would result in a "higher level of intoxication" and that, even with the agreed break last year, police received calls "due to intoxication".
Police also had concerns about whether the applicant had appropriate systems, staff and training to comply with the law. They also wanted a certified manager appointed for the event.
