Squeezing the bingeing

Underage drinking in public spaces has fallen in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, thanks to a pilot project that looks set to be repeated nationwide. MA correspondent reports

British children are the most likely in the developed world to abuse alcohol and drugs, according to the UN's 2007 report An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries. They are also the most likely to have unprotected sex and are among the worst in the world for getting involved in fights.

Increasingly, the antisocial behaviours that our teenagers display are being blamed on alcohol. This is the equation underlying the stories in the national press of teenagers terrorising towns across the country.

By and large a problem for off-traders rather than licensees, the actions of teenagers is nonetheless resulting in some people branding alcohol as the scourge of the nation.

To tackle the problem of underage drinking, in February Prime Minister Gordon Brown hinted at the introduction of a "two strikes and you're out" policy for off-traders, stripping them of their licences if they are caught selling to underage drinkers more than once. Meanwhile, the Conservatives were pushing Chancellor Alistair Darling ahead of the Budget to raise the duty on the cheap, high-alcohol content drinks favoured by underage drinkers — that is, alcopops, high-strength beer and high-strength cider.

Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) policy advisor Stephen Hogg says traditional methods of combating underage drinking have focused too heavily on controlling the supply of alcohol.

"Test purchasing, whether for the on or off-trade, only restricts the supply of alcohol and fails to tackle demand," says Hogg.

However, a pilot project in the market town of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, has been doing just that.

The Cambridgeshire Alcohol Project (CAP) was launched in September 2007 by the Retail Alcohol Standards Group/WTSA and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards.

Under the scheme, which runs until this month, police and trading standards officials in St Neots encourage local off-trade stores to report suspected proxy purchasing and other problems without fear of being targeted for test-purchase operations.

This has enabled police to focus resources on problem stores and, combined with a drive to educate local schoolchildren on the legal implications of proxy purchasing, has seen a fall in the amount of alcohol seized from teenagers.

"By targeting proxy purchasers rather than traders and educating youngsters, this scheme does help reduce demand," says Hogg.

No figures demonstrating the success of the scheme are yet available, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is making headway. At a presentation of the scheme to local Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly and Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Brokenshire in February, two collections of alcoholic drinks seized by police were put on display.

The first haul, taken before the scheme started in September 2007, was about twice the size of that taken by police on a Friday night in February, six months into the scheme. Pupils at Longsands College in St.Neots who met with Djanogly and Brokenshire claimed that the amount of alcohol being drunk in local parks had decreased noticeably.

For off-traders, Hogg says the scheme's success has been based on its partnership-focused approach. Being able to work with, and share information with police without fear of recrimination has generated a greater collective will to tackle bingeing among St Neots' 16 retailers.

CAP has seen St Neots police use information from off-traders to warn off potential proxy purchasers, and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards and charity Drinksense have visited local schools to deliver practical lessons on the impact of underage drinking.

Cambridgeshire Trading Standards plans to launch a scheme similar to the St Neots pilot from April in Cambridge. "Issues in Cambridge will be very different," says CAP project manager Charlotte Wilson.

"Here in St Neots, the issues concern drinking in open areas with alcohol supplied by the off-licensed trade. In a city like Cambridge it is likely that there may be more of an emphasis on on-licensing."

How this increased emphasis will manifest itself is still unclear, says Wilson, but she stresses that the focal point will still be clamping down on proxy-purchasing from the off-trade.

Hogg says CAP's success in St Neots means the scheme is likely to be repeated at many UK locations.

"I would expect to see it in five or six areas in the country where there are different challenges to a town such as St Neots, such as in rural or deprived inner-city areas," he says.