Griffith City Council will finalise a proposal to prohibit alcohol in city parks

Back in March, Council agreed on a proposal to declare Willow Park, Venetian Park, Beilby Park and Yarrabee Reserve as alcohol-free zones between 10pm and 6am following a number of complaints and incidents at City Park and IOOF Park.

Council put the plan up for public exhibition, but reached out specifically to police and local bottleshops for feedback. While bottleshops declined to offer feedback, Inspector Kim Traynor suggested that banning alcohol from 10pm was too late.

"We have been responding to jobs at Willow Park around that time, and not much later, regarding brawls and issues with intoxication. By that time, the people frequenting this area have already consumed a large amount of alcohol and are problematic to deal with," Ms Traynor wrote.

"I know Council is trying to find a happy medium to allow people to attend the area and have a picnic dinner, so I'm not sure what would be a suitable earlier time."

Ms Traynor also noted that new signage would be necessary, in a number of languages to accommodate people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

She added that Willow Park already features signage indicating that alcohol is prohibited within it and indeed, Willow Park is already an alcohol-prohibited area. Confusion may have arisen due to it's status on Kookora Street leading it to go by a number of different names.

While "Kookora Park" is an alcohol-prohibited area already, it has only recently begun going by Willow Park which may have led to the confusion surrounding it's status.

Griffith City Council will vote on the proposal and set down exact parameters at the general meeting on July 12. The meeting will be livestreamed at Griffith City Council's facebook page from 7pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: