Temporary cells are set to open their doors at Mount Maunganui from 4pm today as the region gears up for a busy New Year's Eve.

Local police are expecting a busy time as the party gets started, and the makeshift holding units are on stand-by behind Mount Police Station on Salisbury Avenue.

Senior Sergeant Deirdre Lack in the Mount processing centre.

The processing centre has become something of a regular feature over the festive period, and will house anyone in the area picked up for committing an offence over the next couple of days.

Senior Sergeant Deirdre Lack says: 'They'll be processed through here and if they're intoxicated they'll be held here for a couple of hours before being released.

'If it's a serious offence then they'll go over to Tauranga. There are separate cells for youth as well as males and females.

'It's mainly used for people who have breached a liquor ban, been fighting or have been disorderly in some way, and we'll call the parents of anyone under 17. Parents need to know where their kids are going.”

Around 40 people were processed through the interim facility last year – a reduction on previous New Year celebrations.

And hopeful of another fall in numbers this time around, the message from Deirdre could not be simpler.

'Don't drink too much,” she says, 'and if you do, stay at home.

'There'll also be some kids who are just out looking to pick a fight, so that's worth keeping in mind as well.

'All staff in the Western Bay are rostered in to work New Year's Eve, and that predominantly for the Mount area, Papamoa and The Strand in Tauranga.

'We've also got two teams who arrived from Rotorua yesterday and they're doing some early prevention work before working the Mount on New Year's Eve.

'It's mainly foot patrols at the main beach and down Maunganui Road.”