Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Calum MacLachlainn, J Russell Buchanan, Martin Donovan, Tim Saul, Raymond Boyle, Iain MacNaughton, David Greenwell, Roanna Clark, Sarah Nicolson, Alana Maclachlan and Eric Dearie.

Local Licensing Forum held on 15 May 2013.

In the absence of a quorum the Local Licensing Forum (LLF) noted the Minute of the Meeting held on 15 May 2013 and noted that this would go to the next meeting for approval.

Verbal update by Legal Manager, Customer Services.

S Mair, Legal Manager provided and verbal update on progress to date with the Licensing Policy Statement.

She informed Members that;

• A Draft Licensing Policy document had been finalised and would be circulated, along with a questionnaire and feedback form, to all relevant organisations for comment by mid/end October 2013

• All Local Licensing Forum (LLF) recommendations had been incorporated into the Draft Policy

Decision

1.                  Noted that the Draft Licensing Policy document would be sent to all Members of the LLF for consideration.

2.                  Agreed that a further meeting of the LLF be arranged to collate any comments on the Draft Licensing Policy in time for submission to the Licensing Board.

Verbal report by Legal Manager, Customer Services.

S Mair, Legal Manager provided a verbal report on Policy Review Items.

It was outlined that the main changes contained in the Draft Licensing Policy Statement related to local conditions which were to be attached to the granting of occasional licenses.

It was noted that a limit was set out in legislation as to the number of events a Social Club could hold in a year, and this was being monitored by the Council.

Decision

Noted the position.

Report and presentation by Caroline Church, Alcohol Focus Scotland (to follow)

Caroline Church, Alcohol Focus Scotland provided a presentation on the findings of a survey carried out regarding the provision and overprovision of alcohol in the Argyll and Bute Council area.  She went on to highlight some actions put in place as a result of these findings.

She highlighted the following;

• Harm to Others – the area of alcohol harm affecting people other than the drinker.  Actions included Rory, Oh’Lila and YPAAD Support Group;

• Licensing and where and why people drank and bought their alcohol.  Actions included hosting alcohol free family friendly events, communicating with Community Councils and consulting young people;

• What we already know – price and availability are linked to consumption and harm;

• Affordability and availability – price and affordability of alcohol is mainly controlled by Government, availability is controlled locally by Licensing Boards; and

• Overprovision – is a tool, not an end in itself and the number of licensed premises that constitutes overprovision is a matter for a Licensing Board to decide based on an assessment of the evidence.

In conclusion, she stated that by carefully controlling the overall availability of alcohol, an effective overprovision policy could help to prevent and reduce alcohol problems; enhancing community life, improving health and well-being, and boosting local productivity and economic performance.

Members thanked Caroline Church for her presentation, and further discussion then took place on overprovision.

Decision

Agreed that an item on overprovision within the Argyll and Bute Council area be placed on the Agenda for a future meeting of the LLF.

Report by Elaine C Garman, Public Health Specialist, NHS

The Local Licensing Forum (LLF) considered a report by Elaine Garman, Public Health Specialist.

Speaking to the report, Elaine Garman highlighted the following which related to the Argyll and Bute locality;

• Alcohol Related Mortality;
• Alcohol Related Hospital Admissions;
• Number and Type of Licensed Premises; and
• Correlation Between Alcohol Mortality/Hospital Admissions and Licensed Premises.

It was concluded that future development of the report could include data from a number of different sources, and also include more up to date information from The National Records of Scotland.  However there would be the continuing difficulty of small numbers giving rise to difficulty in interpretation.

Members thanked Elaine Garman for her presentation.

Decision

Noted the report and the issues surrounding the identification and definition of overprovision.

Tuesday 26 November 2013.

The LLF requested that the date for the next meeting be changed to enable comments on the Draft Local Licensing Policy to be collated for submission to the Licensing Board,

Decision

Agreed that the next meeting of the LLF take place on Wednesday 2 October 2013 at 10.30am.