A hearing panel of the Christchurch City Council will consider submissions on the proposed Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places Bylaw on Monday.

The Council received 25 submissions. Of the 36 comments made in the submissions, 22 supported the proposal in whole or in part, 12 raised some concerns about the bylaw and several raised matters not covered by the proposal. Submissions were open from late January until early March.

The 'Alcohol Restrictions in Public Places Bylaw', is proposed to take the place of the current liquor control bylaws, one of which expires at the end of June.

Councillor Sue Wells, who will be chairing the panel, says: "The bylaw is restricted in its coverage by what is allowed by the Local Government Act. For example, the Council is legally unable to ban the consumption of alcohol in all public places. Nor can it prevent people from being intoxicated in public or drinking in their own homes. The proposed bylaw is a very focussed piece of regulation which would see controls put on certain public places, some of them on a part-time basis. It isn't a catch-all solution. It is one part of Council's work around alcohol issues."

In developing the proposed bylaw, the Council worked very closely with the Police to determine where in the Christchurch area this type of regulation would be appropriate. It is the Police, not the Council, who are legally able to enforce bylaws of this type. Police support for the bylaw is therefore essential.

"Making a bylaw these days requires a very clinical analysis of what the problem is, and whether a bylaw is going to fix it," says Cr Wells. "We are bound by the legislation. In practice that means we can't put bylaws in place where they simply repeat what the law already says, nor can we make bylaws which are outside our powers."

The hearing of submissions is likely to conclude on Monday. The panel deliberations are expected to come to the Council as recommendations in May.