Stevens to fight liquor shop bid | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

A Wanganui District councillor has vowed to fight plans to open a liquor shop in Castlecliff.

Councillor Ray Stevens said he received information this week that Shree Sai Holdings intended to apply for a liquor licence to open a bottle store in part of the Castlecliff Hotel.

Shree Sai Holdings already owns a bottle store in Purnell St and one in Wanganui East, and is also re-applying for the liquor licence relating to the Wanganui East shop.

Mr Stevens said he would fight the application "in every way I possibly can".

"The shop next door [to the proposed bottle store] has a liquor licence, the Castlecliff Club has a liquor licence, and the Castlecliff Hotel itself has a liquor licence.

"That would be four liquor licences in a very small space, in what is one of Wanganui's most impoverished areas. With schools 200m away.

"You have to ask yourself, is this really necessary?"

Mr Stevens said said granting the liquor licence would fly in the face of the council's family-friendly policy and could potentially have negative effects on the local community, including health, domestic violence and drink-driving.

"We need to knock this on the head," Mr Stevens said.

He said he would like to see the council deal with the issue of liquor licences through the district plan.

"We need to treat this like gaming machines, employ a sinking lid policy, so that once a liquor retailer goes, so does the liquor licence," he said.

Shree Sai Holdings did not return calls from the Wanganui Chronicle.

The company's Purnell St bottle store was one of three new off-licences granted in Wanganui last year.

Mr Stevens said the off-licence market was becoming saturated in Wanganui.