Maitland City Council will lift an alcohol ban in part of the Maitland CBD for New Year’s Eve celebrations, despite objections from police.
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Council staff have recommended that the elected councillors approve the suspension of the alcohol-free zone in Riverside car park (formerly Galton’s car park) and the River Walk between St Andrews Street and the eastern pedestrian entry point to the mall, from 4pm and 9.30pm on December 31.
Fourteen security guards trained in the responsible service of alcohol will patrol the area during the evening.
Central Hunter licensing officer Sergeant Brett James wrote to council on behalf of the local area commander Superintendent Garry O’Dell last month to object to the plan.
Sergeant James wrote that the temporary cancellation of the alcohol-free zone would remove a valuable tool that police used to target alcohol-related crime on one of the busiest nights of the year for police.
The letter noted that suspending the ban caused confusion in the community about where people were allowed to drink, which caused problems for police patrolling parts of the city where the ban was still in force.
Police were also concerned that allowing alcohol consumption in public places would make locations like Galton’s car park an unofficial licensed area for which no one was directly responsible.
The number of minors caught in possession of alcohol in the area where the ban had been suspended had also increased in the past two years because many juveniles thought police would be less likely to catch them drinking there.
“Maitland City Council do not provide ay additional public transport to cater for those members of the public who do attend the event, consume alcohol and then find that they may be well over the legal blood alcohol content permissible to drive a motor vehicle,” the letter also noted.
The council report said that staff had considered the objections from police and security measures would be put in place, so it recommended for councillors to temporarily lift the alcohol ban.
Police arrested nine people across the Maitland region during the 2013-14 New Year’s Eve celebrations, up from six the previous year.
Councillors had previously voted to cancel the midnight fireworks in Maitland this year in favour of a single pyrotechnic display at 9pm.