Te Puna liquor store plan hits community opposition

A Te Puna liquor store plan hits community opposition. Photo/Getty.

The chances of drunk people interacting with Te Puna children will rise if an application for another bottle store is approved, concerned locals fear.

A Western Bay of Plenty District Council Licensing Committee meeting agenda showed Angelin Enterprises Limited applied for an off-licence to open a new liquor store on Minden Rd called Te Puna Liquor.

But local people say another liquor store is unnecessary.

The store would be 50m from Te Puna Kindergarten and 80m from another early childcare centre.

Angelin Enterprises Limited's application said "the issue of a licence for the proposed premises will have little to no impact on" Te Puna Kindergarten.

"There is no reason to believe that the issue of this licence will negatively impact on the neighbouring environment amenity and good order."

The application said the target market was "local Te Puna residents, local farmers and their workers, local businesses and their customers".

There will be no security on a daily basis.

Te Puna Kindergarten principal Peter Monteith lodged an objection to the off-licence application.

However, having only found out about the application over a month after it was submitted, the objection was rejected due to lateness.

Monteith did not know of any problems so far with the current liquor store in Te Puna, however, in his opinion "the more you have the more likelihood there is for impact".

Peter Monteith, Tauranga principal of Inspired Kindergartens. Photo / File

He said the kindergarten wasn't notified of the application but should have been considering how close it may be to the kindergarten.

The licence applicants are yet to contact Monteith.

The population of Te Puna was 2712, according to the Western Bay of Plenty Council recorded in 2018.

It currently has one liquor centre, Four Square, bar, tavern and pub.

Te Puna Liquor Centre and Four Square Te Puna are both within 100m of the proposed location.

Western Bay of Plenty District councillor Don Thwaites, a long-time resident of Te Puna, said the council was reviewing the local alcohol policy and would "look at limiting any further liquor licences".

As well as "looking to take the hours back till 9pm closing ... There's strong evidence that it does lessen harm".

Thwaites said he believed Te Puna was "pretty well catered for with what we've got already and we probably don't need any further".

Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services executive director Tommy Wilson was working on a community submission to stop Te Puna Liquor from opening.

Wilson said, in his opinion, liquor stores were generally ''sucking the wealth and the health out of poor communities".

Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services Chief Imagination Officer Tommy Wilson. Photo / File

"We keep allowing more and more licences and more and more liquor outlets, and they're all going in the poor parts of town".

In his opinion: "It's out of control ... they (liquor stores) put nothing back into the community."

Angelin Enterprises Limited director Barinderpal Singh said he applied for the licence in November 2020 but the application was delayed because of Covid-19.

"At this stage, I can only say that we have worked hard on developing our business plan for Te Puna liquor which addresses all the issues in operating a new off-licence in Te Puna.

"This licence application will be heard by District Licensing Committee in February 2022, they will see the merits/demerits of this licence application and will decide the outcome."

Four objections to the off-licence application were submitted to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Correction: A photo used in an earlier version of this story showed the incorrect location of the proposed liquor store.