Booze bans renewed in New Year black spots

By LOUISA CLEAVE

Police and local authorities will crack down on drinking in public places for the biggest party of the century - but only at the usual beach hot spots and popular party towns.

Bans on alcohol have been widened in some areas, but police and local authorities say they don't want to dampen celebrations with undue restrictions.

As the centre of millennium celebrations, Gisborne is taking a hard line on liquor consumption in public and is also asking local liquor outlets to sell only canned, not bottled, alcohol.

A blanket ban will cover the central business district down to the foreshore between December 29 and January 2.

In Whangamata, where thousands of young people are expected to gather for New Year, a town-wide liquor ban will again be enforced between December 29 and January 2.

But the 12-hour restriction has been changed from 6 pm-6 am to 5 pm-5 am to allow for dawn celebrations on New Year's Day.

From Christmas Day to December 28, a ban will apply to beach and reserve areas, and some parts of the township.

Elsewhere on the Coromandel, Pauanui, Tairua, Hahei and Whitianga will have bans between December 25 and January 2.

Northland revelry spots Paihia and Russell are also imposing similar bans to previous years, with alcohol restrictions between 4 pm and 4 am on December 31.

Tauranga and Mt Maunganui have used new legislation to extend blanket alcohol bans to 24 hours rather than 12, but the areas covered remain the same.

The Tauranga District Council will prohibit people from taking alcohol into the area stretching from the Mount to the end of Papamoa Beach, including Moturiki Island, between December 24 and January 2.

Alcohol will also be banned throughout the downtown Mount area and there will be restrictions in downtown Tauranga.

The chief executive of Tauranga District Council, Paula Thompson, said private security firms would be employed to "remind people" of the bans rather than enforce them.

The council was hoping for a more orderly New Year's Eve from the thousands of young people expected to flood into the area for the millennium.

It has organised dance "raves" between December 26 and January 5, targeted at youth below the drinking age, and will promote "Operation Sober" with the Tauranga Safer Communities Trust and the police.

Rotorua's Lakefront will be alcohol-free for 12 hours from 5.30 pm on December 31.

Auckland City will be mainly ban-free, with only Aotea Square singled out by police as a non-alcohol spot on the night. A youth concert will be held there.

The operational services manager for Auckland City police, Inspector Mark Hall, said staff hoped to deal with any disorder without imposing mass bans.