Public invited to respond to proposals for liquor licensing overprovision statement

The public is being invited to have its say on whether there is an overprovision of licensed premises in any locality within the area of Highland Licensing Board.
 
The deadline for responses is Friday 18 October.
 
Where the Board has stated in its Policy Statement that there is overprovision of any particular description of licensed premises in any locality, this will create a presumption against the grant of applications for licences for such premises in that locality.  The onus would then lie with the applicant to satisfy the Board that there are material reasons why his or her application should nonetheless be granted and that the grant would not conflict with any of the licensing objectives.
 
In considering whether there is overprovision of licensed premises or licensed premises of a particular description in any locality, the Board must have regard to the number and capacity of licensed premises in the locality. The Board must also consult Police Scotland, NHS Highland, Highland Licensing Forum and such other persons as the Board thinks fit.
 
At its last meeting, the Board met to consider options for proposals for an overprovision statement on which to go out to consultation.  The Clerk’s Report and the accompanying evidence in relation to alcohol-related harm which had been submitted to the Board by NHS Highland and by Police Scotland can be accessed here.  
 
Based on the evidence submitted, the Board accepted the recommendation in the Report that the premises which the Board should consider further at this stage were off-sales premises.
 
The Board further agreed to undertake consultation on two different options recommended by NHS Highland (Option 1 being NHS Highland’s preferred option):
 
Option 1
 
That the Board’s overprovision statement should create a presumption against the grant of any more premises licences where the off-sales capacity sought (i.e. size of alcohol display area) is 40 m2 or over (or exceeds such other capacity as the Board considers appropriate) and that this presumption should apply throughout the Highland area.
 
Option 2
 
That the Board’s overprovision statement should create a presumption against the grant of any more premises licences where the off-sales capacity sought (i.e. size of alcohol display area) is 40 m2 or over (or exceeds such other capacity as the Board considers appropriate) and that this presumption should apply only in the 12 multimember wards identified by the NHS as the areas of greatest incidence of alcohol-related harm (based on rates of hospitalisation for alcohol-related conditions in Highland). These twelve wards are:
 
Caol and Mallaig (ward 12); Cromarty Firth (ward 7); Dingwall and Seaforth (ward 9), Eilean a’ Cheo (ward 11), Fort William and Ardnamurchan (ward 22), Inverness Central (ward 15), Inverness Millburn (ward 17), Inverness Ness-side (ward 16), Inverness West (ward 14), Landward Caithness (ward 4), Thurso (ward 2), and Wick (ward 3).

The new policy statement will run for three years from December of this year.
 
The questionnaire can be read here.
 
Responses should be sent to the undernoted postal or e-mail address: Susan Blease, Depute Clerk to the Licensing Board,  Council Offices, High Street, Dingwall IV15 9QN  Tel. 01349 868 538 E-mail: susan.blease@highland.gov.uk
 
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