Review of Licensing Board Alcohol Licensing Policy

Orkney Islands Area Licensing Board – Public Consultation – Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 – Review of Statement of Alcohol Licensing Policy

1. Orkney Islands Area Licensing Board (the Board) is carrying out a review of its Statement of Alcohol Licensing Policy in terms of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 (the Act) during 2023.

2. The Board must ensure that its Statement of Alcohol Licensing Policy seeks to promote the five licensing objectives specified in the Act, which are:

• Preventing crime and disorder.
• Securing public safety.
• Preventing public nuisance.
• Protecting and improving public health.
• Protecting children and young persons from harm.

3. The Statement of Alcohol Licensing Policy requires to set out the policies to be applied by the Board to promote the licensing objectives when determining applications. In addition, regard must be had to Guidance issued to licensing boards by the Scottish Government.

4. The Board’s draft revised Policy can be viewed in the Related Downloads section on this page.

5. Section 7 of the Act requires that each licensing policy statement published by a licensing board must include a statement as to the extent to which the board considers there to be overprovision of licensed premises or licensed premises of a particular description in any locality within the board’s area. The Board may determine that the whole of the Board’s area is a locality.

6. Guidance issued in 2007 provided that “the results of all consultation should be evaluated to identify robust and reliable evidence which suggests that a saturation point has been reached or is close to being reached, always provided that a dependable causal link can be forged between that evidence and the operation of licensed premises in a locality”.

7. Updated Guidance issued in 2023 retains the reference to a “dependable causal link” by providing:

“Consideration should be given as to whether aggregate information and evidence from a number of sources demonstrates a link between the availability of alcohol in an area and alcohol-related harm.

To demonstrate a “dependable causal link”, the proof of the link must be on a balance of probabilities. What this means in practice is that based on the evidence of harm in a locality, it is more likely than not that alcohol availability is a cause, or that increasing the availability of alcohol in that area will increase that harm.”

8. Section 8 of the draft revised Policy indicates that on 19 January 2023, the Board determined that, for the purposes of consultation on the assessment of overprovision of alcohol licensed premises, the locality should be Orkney as a whole. A copy of the full report is available by clicking on the relevant date in the calendar at https://www.orkney.gov.uk/council-meetings.htm.

9. Section 8 of the draft revised Policy also indicates that on 27 April 2023, the Board determined that there is no overprovision of licensed premises or licensed premises of a particular description within the locality of Orkney defined by the Board.

10. The Board concluded that, on a balance of probabilities, there was not a dependable causal link between the availability of alcohol in Orkney and alcohol-related harm, in that, based on the evidence of harm in the locality of Orkney as defined by the Board, it was unlikely, on balance, that alcohol availability was a cause of harm in Orkney, or that increasing the availability of alcohol in Orkney would increase that harm. A copy of the full report is available by clicking on the relevant date in the calendar at https://www.orkney.gov.uk/council-meetings.htm.

11. The approach set out in paragraphs 8 to 10 above does not preclude subsequent alternative findings by the Board. For example, after consideration of evidence received as a result of the consultation on the draft revised Policy, the Board could determine that a different locality or localities should apply or that overprovision of licensed premises or licensed premises of a particular description exists within that locality or those localities.

12. However, it should be noted that each application requires to be determined on its own merits and there may be cases where the applicant could demonstrate that the grant of the licence or variation, as an exception to Policy, would not undermine the licensing objectives detailed above. Accordingly, there must be room for exceptions. Guidance issued in 2007 stated that a numerical quota of licensed premises or premises of a particular description in a locality should not be set, while updated Guidance issued in 2023 provides that there is no simple numerical formula for pinpointing the threshold between provision and overprovision.

13. In Orkney, there are currently:

• 14 on-sales premises with total capacity of 3,532 persons.
• 36 off-sale premises with total alcohol display capacity of 689.72 square metres.
• 46 premises licensed for both on and off-sales with total capacity of 6,834 persons and total alcohol display capacity of 400.39 square metres.

14. Members’ clubs, of which there are 9 in Orkney, are not included in the statistics, in accordance with Guidance.

15. The Board would like to hear from you with your views on its draft revised Policy.

16. You can also submit your views on whether there is overprovision of licensed premises, or premises of a particular description, in Orkney or in any locality or localities within Orkney.

17. Submissions that overprovision exists will require to be assessed by the Board in accordance with the Guidance explained at paragraph 7 above.

18. Responses must be received in writing by 25 August 2023 to the email or postal addresses shown at the end of this Notice. All responses must identify the name and address of the responder.

19. A report on the outcome of this consultation on the review of the Board’s Statement of Alcohol Licensing Policy will be submitted to the Board in October 2023. The revised Policy must be in place by November 2023.

20. Thank you for taking the time to take part in this consultation and please do not hesitate to contact this office should you wish to discuss the matter further. You can use the email address shown in paragraph 21 below or phone 01856 873535 extensions 2232 or 2229 (voicemail available).

21. The submission addresses referred to at paragraph 18 above are:

• By e-mail (preferred) to: licensing@orkney.gov.uk.
• By letter to: The Clerk to the Licensing Board, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1NY.

Gavin Mitchell.

Clerk to the Licensing Board.

Strategy, Performance and Business Solutions, Council Offices, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1NY.

22 June 2023.