Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, the Co-op and Marks & Spencer were all refused permission to expand store space for the sale of alcohol at 13 sites across Glasgow last month, in one of the most significant and controversial actions taken by licensing chiefs using new legislation that came into effect last September.
The bids were turned down because the retailers could not prove their plans would promote public health, one of five objectives behind the new legislation, with the move winning the praise of health and anti-alcohol abuse campaigners.
No other licensing board in Scotland had taken the approach on such a scale.
However, in the face of a raft of costly court appeals, the Glasgow Licensing Board said it would be revisiting the applications it had previously refused, blaming “yet another major flaw in the new legislation” and calling on the Government to provide increased powers.
The board’s chairman, Stephen Dornan, yesterday told dozens of applicants at a meeting that the Government had failed to provide the required support for authorities looking to make decisions on health grounds.
He said: “Unlike the other licensing objectives where the board is able to consult with the police and licensing standards officers, there is no similar consultation process in relation to public health and therefore the board can only act on its own local knowledge.
“Unfortunately, in terms of the legislation, that local knowledge, however well informed, is unlikely to satisfy the courts. While the board feels that its decisions were entirely justified, it has to accept that it could be a battle it is unlikely to win.
“The board believes that these cases highlight yet another major flaw in the new licensing legislation in terms of its failure to back up what was intended to be the most robust power given to boards to properly tackle widespread problems associated with alcohol misuse.
“The Act has not lived up to expectation and today we are calling on the Government to urgently address this and give effective powers to boards.”
Dornan added that he was still concerned with the requests by the multiple retailers for increased alcohol space, claiming one applicant wanted to remove an entire aisle of spring and flavoured waters and replace it with alcohol, while yesterday a Sainsbury’s in the city centre was given permission to use 14 metres of space, currently displaying other products, to be used for alcohol.
He also urged supermarkets to “get involved in the spirit of the Act” and that the wellbeing of communities was “in your hands”.
But the Government claimed the new Act does not prevent a board from seeking the views of health professionals or the public if it wishes to implement a policy protecting and improving public health.
A spokesman said: “There is also nothing preventing those involved in promoting health from directly opposing any new application and the licensing board considering such objections to the application.
“One of the board’s statutory consultees is the local licensing forum which must include people involved in public health and there is nothing that prevents boards consulting further. The board’s policy statement enables applicants to know the policy a board is likely to follow although each application must be judged on a case by case basis.”
Supermarkets sell more than 50% of alcohol in the UK. Under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 any bar, off-sales, supermarket or hotel selling alcohol must provide a floor plan of where it will be sold and apply to the local board if they want to amend it.
