Scotland - 'New NHS post to help communities in fight against liquor licences'

Herald Scotland is today reporting that Scotland's largest health board is ‘to create a second post in less than a year dedicated to increasing the number of objections to alcohol licences and curtail the sale of drink'.

The report goes on to state that:

‘In the latest move in its campaign against the alcohol industry, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) is to fund an officer whose sole remit is to assist community groups in lodging appeals against the sale of liquor in their neighbourhoods.

The successful candidate for the new role will give advice to community councils and groups such as tenants and residents' associations on how to legally frame objections to licence applications. NHS GGC said the applicant, who will be appointed next month, would "create and provide the information, training and support needed to allow communities to have a voice within the statutory processes that regulate the sale of alcohol within Glasgow city".

It comes less than a year after the board appointed an officer to bring specific health concerns to licensing boards when applications are made, with a view to limiting the sale of alcohol. The job, the first of its type in Scotland, aimed to bring forensic and legal rigour to licensing objections from the NHS, which continues to have very mixed results in its attempts to force itself on the agenda.

An update report on how the post has performed has found it has made just five letters of objection and one letter of representation to Glasgow's licensing board to date'.

Source - Herald Scotland