It’s back to the drawing board for the City of Cape Town’s liquor by-law.
|||Cape Town - It’s back to the drawing board for the City of Cape Town’s liquor by-law after more than 90 percent of respondents in the first round of public hearings called for extended sales hours and the sale of alcohol on Sundays.
The city’s liquor trading hours by-law came into effect in April last year, and outlets were given a year’s grace period to retain their trading times until their licences were renewed in April this year.
On March 27, council referred the by-law back to the planning portfolio committee for further consideration.
The first round of public hearings revealed a demand for extended trading hours and the option to apply for a Sunday trading licence, said Garreth Bloor, mayoral committee member for economic, environmental and spatial planning.
The Western Cape Liquor Authority and provincial government have also indicated that they were considering changes to the provincial Liquor Act of 2008. This means municipalities will have to include conditions relating to planning, noise nuisance, safety and security of patrons and fire control in their liquor laws.
The current 2012 by-law looks only at the hours and days of trade.
Since the proposed changes affect the city’s liquor trading by-law, a new and comprehensive by-law needs to be drafted.
“The by-law would seek to balance the challenge of addressing the social impact of liquor trading without causing job losses and damage to the local economy,” according to the report submitted to the planning portfolio committee yesterday.
The new draft by-law makes provision for the city to cancel, amend and suspend the approval of an application for extended trading hours based on certain conditions.
Applications to trade on Sundays can be considered. Other provisions relate to the temporary closure of outlets and seizure of liquor, music disturbances, parking demands and the need to deal with obstructions to traffic. It will also deal with electronic vending and gambling devices at liquor outlets.
A special meeting to deal with the comments and proposals for the amended by-law will be held within the next two weeks.
anel.lewis@inl.co.za
Cape Argus