Councils: Licensing Act a failure
Local authorities have claimed relaxed licensing hours have failed to reduce drink-fuelled violence.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said that the taxpayer had been left to pick up a £100m bill from the introduction of the Licensing Act.
The survey claims;
• Seven out of ten police authorities, Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and councils reported an increase or no change in alcohol-related incidents
• Nearly one in three PCTs have reported an increase in alcohol-related incidents
• Half of police authorities report that the Act has simply led to alcohol-related disorder occurring later at night
• 86% of health authorities and 94% of councils reported an increased pressure on resources, mainly through a rise in A&E admissions
• Councils taxpayers are footing a bill of £100m to implement the new laws
"The new drinks laws have made no impact whatsoever on reducing the alcohol-related violence that blights town centres and turns them into no-go areas on a Friday and Saturday night," said LGA chairman Sir Simon Milton.
"The Government was always going to fall short on its promises to curb excessive drinking because new licensing laws alone were never going to be enough to change this endemic culture of alcohol and violence.
It is totally unacceptable that the hard-pressed council taxpayer should be forced to pick up the bill for something that the government said would not cost them a pennySimon MiltonLGA chairman
"The new system was burdened with exaggerated expectations as it was never a single solution to alcohol-related disorder.
"There needs to a wide-ranging national debate about how freely available alcohol is, how the nation views social drinking and how we can go about reducing consumption.
"It seems that we have a deep-rooted social and cultural problem in this country in the way that we view alcohol that cannot be addressed by one simple piece of legislation.
"It will take years, possibly decades off concerted action across the board.
He added: "It is totally unacceptable that the hard-pressed council taxpayer should be forced to pick up the bill for something that the government said would not cost them a penny."
