Alcohol licensing

Applications can still be made during the Christmas period however there will be no processing of applications while Council offices are closed, these days are not “working days” under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act.

Local Alcohol Policy

Under the Sale and Supply Alcohol Act 2012, Council developed a policy to establish our positions on licensing matters such as the location, number and trading hours of licensed premises.

Local Alcohol Policy 2025

Some of the key changes from the new policy:

“Higher risk” on-licence trading hours

Reducing the trading hours of “higher risk” new or renewed on-licence premises, from 9am till 2am the following day to 9am till 1am the following day.
Expanding the list of “higher risk” on-licence premises to include Class 1 restaurants, and other on-licence premises listed in section 5 (3) of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Fees) Regulations 2013, with a weighting of 15 or more.

Off-licences cap

The total number of off-licences in the main shopping centres of Te Awamutu, Kihikihi, Leamington, and Cambridge are now capped. This means no other off-licence premises will be able to open in the identified areas unless one closes down or moves out of the capped area.

Kihikihi 2
Te Awamutu East 2
Te Awamutu Central 7
Cambridge Central 9
Leamington North 2
Leamington Central 4

View the off-licence cap areas.

View the off-licence cap areas online.

Club licences one-way door policy
One-way door restrictions can now only be applied to Class 1 clubs with a closing time later than midnight.

On-licences one-way door policy
The one-way door restrictions for on-licences are still at the District Licensing Committee’s discretion, but the recommendation has been expanded to include the whole week and higher risk premises.

Sensitive facilities

Adding community facilities (for off-licences only), rehabilitation treatment centres and marae to the list of “Sensitive Facilities”.
Conditions around Sensitive Facilities and Community Facilities can be bypassed if it can be proven by the DLC and ARLA that the impact will be no more than to a minor extent.

For off-licences only:

The distance measured between off-licence premises and a Sensitive Facility or Community Facility will now be measured from the whole building.
Location of Sensitive Facilities does not affect a licence renewal if such facilities were established after the original licence was issued.
No new off-licence may be issued for premises that are greater than 40 metres and less than 100 metres from sensitive facilities and community facilities which the DLC and ARLA reasonably believes can be impacted by the off-licence.

View the full list of changes including Discretionary Conditions here.

To obtain an alcohol licence you must first ensure that:

you have the correct licence for the type of premises (on, off or club) and;
at least one person holds a managers certificate under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.

Check out this guide on applying for a licence to sell or supply alcohol. It's for people applying for any type of new or renewed licence and leads you through the application and hearings process under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012.

The Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Community Participation)

Amendment Act 2023 is now in force

From 30 May 2024, there are changes to procedures for how District Licensing Committees (DLCs) consider licensing applications. These changes mean that DLC procedures must:

avoid unnecessary formality
not permit cross-examination, or parties to question other parties and their witnesses
allow for tikanga Māori to be incorporated into proceedings, and
allow evidence to be given in te reo Māori.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority (ARLA) and DLCs must now consider any reasonable request made by a person to take part remotely in a hearing, or any part of a hearing.

Helpful documents and links:

Object to an Alcohol Licence

Who can object to alcohol licences?
Parliament has made changes to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 (the Act) so that you no longer need to have a greater interest than the public generally to object to applications.

Anyone can object to an application for a licence, licence renewal, variation of licence conditions or special licence, with narrow exceptions for trade competitors and their surrogates.

There is no cost for lodging an objection.

Objecting to a licence to sell or supply alcohol: a guide to objections and hearings

Further information regarding objecting to an alcohol licence.

Types of licence

To sell or supply alcohol either as a business, club, or at a special event, you must apply for the appropriate licence.

There are four types of licence:

On Licence (pub, restaurant, cafe, bar)
Off Licence (bottle store, supermarket)
Club Licence (sports club, RSA, working men's club)
Special Licence (events and functions)

An on-licence, off-licence, or club licence is granted initially for one year and then can be renewed every three years. Special licences are granted per event or for a series of events.

A separate application must be submitted for each type of licence, along with a non-refundable fee and requirements for specific additional documentation. If you are taking over an existing licensed premises that already has a licence you will need to apply for a temporary authority to cover you while you're waiting for your new licence to be issued.

On, off, and club licences are also subject to an annual fee on their anniversary.

You can find alcohol licence applications here.

Timeframes when applying for a licence

Complete applications will always be processed as quickly as possible. However applicants are recommended to allow six weeks for an application to be processed to provide the maximum opportunity for an application to be granted.

While the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 requires special licences to be filed a minimum of 20 working days prior to the event, applicants must be aware that this is an absolute minimum and does not guarantee an application will be granted within this timeframe. Particularly for large events with multiple applications, or where applications are incomplete.

An application is not considered as complete until payment has been received. Particularly if you require an invoice to be generated. Applicants must ensure that the application and payment reach us 20 working days prior to the day of the event for special licences, or 20 working days before expiry for renewals.

The Act allows 15 working days for the reporting agencies (Police and Medical Officer of Health) to report on licence applications. Then the Licensing Inspector is required to report on the application. Then the application goes to an independent body, the District Licensing Committee, for determination.

Please note that none of the days from 20 December and 15 January (and including those days) are counted as working days under the Act, so applicants must allow additional days either side of these dates.

In many cases a short timeframe is insufficient to resolve any issues that may arise as the application goes through this process.

What does an Alcohol Licence allow?

It allows the licensee to sell alcohol according to the conditions of the licence.

Conditions cover such things as:

who alcohol can be sold to
the hours and days alcohol can be sold
who is allowed on the premises
the range of food, non-alcohol and low-alcohol drinks to be provided
provision of information about alternative transport arrangements.

It is against the law for a licensee or their staff to sell alcohol to anyone who is intoxicated, to allow a person to become intoxicated, or serve alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 years. There are heavy penalties for these offences.

Fees and charges

The fees for licences and certificates are set under the Alcohol Fees bylaw 2024 and Fees and Charges 2025-27.

Under section 66 (2) of the Act for an extract from a register.

Type	Description	2026/27 fees (including GST)
Special licence fees
Class 1	One large events: more than three medium events: more than 12 small events	$977.50
Class 2	Three to 12 small events: One to three medium events	$351.90
Class 3	One of two small events	$107.52
Application fee for on, off, and club licences (including renewals)
Very low	Council assign a fees category to any premises for which an on-licence, or club-licence is held or sought, based on the type of premises, its trading hours and its enforcement history.	$625.60
Low		$1036.15
Medium		$1388.05
High		$1739.50
Very high		$2052.75
Annual fee for on, off, and club licences (including renewals)
Very low	Council assign a fees category to any premises for which an on-licence, or club-licence is held or sought, based on the type of premises, its trading hours and its enforcement history.	$273.70
Low		$664.70
Medium		$1075.25
High		$1759.50
Very high		$2443.75
Other fees
Temporary authority	Section 136 (2) of the Act for a temporary authority to carry on the sale and supply of alcohol	$504.39
Temporary licence	Under section 74 of the Act to sell alcohol pursuant to a licence from premises other than the premises to which the licence relates during repairs etc.	$504.39
Permanent club charters	The holder of a permanent club charter (as described in section 414 of the Act)	$1075.25
Extract from register		$97.75
Manager's certificate		$316.25

Description	2026/27 fees
Request for excerpts of sale of alcohol database (section 66(2))	$50.00 as per regulation
Applications for waiver pursuant to section 208 of the Act (Deducted from licence application fee)	$60.00
Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act Section 100(f) certificates certifying that the proposed use of the premises meets the requirements of the RMA
Existing premises	$190.00
New or altered premises	$299.00

Other fees and charges

Description	2026/27 fees
Pre-purchase inspections and/or reports	Actual staff time plus $1.05 per km
Pre-application meetings and consultation (food or sale of alcohol)	Actual staff time
General inspection fee where not stated above (e.g. swimming pools, housing)	Actual staff time plus $1.05 per km
Information requests other than the above	As per official information request charges
Replacements or copies of certificates (Food, Health, Alcohol etc)	$55.00
Advertising of alcohol licence applications on Council’s website	$160.00
Alcohol licence hearing costs not associated with the application itself (e.g. translation services etc) will be charged at actual cost.

Approval under Waipā Public Places Alcohol Control Bylaw 2024

Description	2026/27 fees
Approvals	$90.00