Agenda item

Consultation to help inform the Council in considering if there are areas in the Scottish Borders where drinking alcohol in a public place should not be allowed.

2.1       The Chairman also extended a welcome to Nuala McKinlay, Chief Legal Officer, who advised on Scottish Borders Council’s consultation on the Consumption of Alcohol in Public Places.  The purpose of the consultation was to determine the views of Borders citizens, groups and interested parties on the impact of public consumption of alcohol in our communities.  Mrs McKinlay explained that in 2013, Scottish Borders Council (SBC) had considered the introduction of byelaws to prohibit drinking in public places.  The process resulted in a draft byelaw being drawn up which would have brought restrictions in place in a number of Border towns.  The process had been very lengthy and only came to a conclusion at the end of last year.  Following a consultation process, in 2018, the Council decided not to introduce byelaws due to a range of factors which included changes in licensing laws.  The previous consultation received a fairly low level of response and SBC was keen to encourage participation and to ensure that views were received from a broad range of people and groups.  The Council had however agreed to this new consultation which had been launched in Berwickshire with over 400 responses already received.  The purpose of this consultation was to determine the views of Borders citizens, groups and communities to inform the Council in considering if there were areas in the Scottish Borders where drinking alcohol in public places was causing problems.  Mrs McKinlay encouraged participation in the consultation, with copies of the questionnaire available on the tables at the meeting and on the Council’s website.  Details of the consultation had been sent out to a range of bodies and officers were attending each Area Partnership meeting.  The closing date for responses was 30 June 2019.  Following an analysis of the responses and subject to the responses received, a further consultation exercise may be carried out in the autumn, with a report back to Council by the end of 2019 to decide on whether the matter would be pursued.  

2.2       Mrs McKinlay responded to a number of questions raised explaining that the byelaws would cover any public places not covered by a licence e.g. public parks.  There could be exemptions for events such as Common Ridings and Rugby Sevens.  Occasional licences could also be granted for special events.  If introduced, the Police would enforce the byelaws; Police Scotland and NHS Borders were key partners in the consultation process.  Regarding devolving the decision to Area Partnerships, Mrs McKinlay advised that Area Partnerships could make recommendations to Council, but ultimately the decision was made by Scottish Ministers.  Mrs McKinlay went on to stress that the aim of this Phase 1 consultation was not to introduce a further byelaw but to determine whether there were problems regarding public alcohol consumption and if a byelaw would be helpful in addressing it or if there was a desire to look in more detail at the introduction of a byelaw.

2.3      The Alcohol & Drugs Partnership Co-ordinator, Susan Elliot, who was in attendance, made comment on the Council’s consultation.  Ms Elliot highlighted that one in four adults were drinking to excess and that children exposed to alcohol by parents were more likely to drink alcohol.   NHS Borders’ view was that the introduction of byelaws would be an effective tool to reduce consumption and could change the mind-set of the public around the availability of alcohol; restriction could also help in terms of people’s overall health.  Ms McKinlay stressed that participation in the consultation was being encouraged and to spread the word to take part, in particular to gain the views of groups within Scottish Borders.   In response to a question, Mrs McKinlay explained that any premises with an occasional licence would not be affected and this would cover beer gardens, social events, festivals etc. and any event with no licence – i.e. cheese and wine parties held in gardens, would then require a licence.  Mrs McKinlay advised that Police Scotland did not have the tools at present to deal with the drinking of alcohol in public places and criminal law was not sufficient and would benefit from a supplementary byelaw to interact with persons causing a nuisance/breach of peace whilst drinking alcohol.   After further discussion, covering all aspects and areas of this consultation, the Chairman thanked Mrs McKinlay and Ms Elliot for their attendance and encouraged everyone to participate in the consultation.  

DECISION

NOTED.