Efforts to minimise alcohol-related harm in Auckland are one step closer

The city's local alcohol policy has been approved by the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority.

Mayor Wayne Brown and councillors will now be asked to choose a date for the policy to come into force.

It places a freeze on almost all new bottle shops in the city centre and 23 other suburbs for the next two years.

Regulatory and Safety Committee chair, Josephine Bartley, says it'll mean supermarkets and bars will have to stop selling alcohol earlier.
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She says the changes are long overdue and their communities have been sitting ducks because they don't have this policy to provide that protection.