The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill is due to be published next week and, according to Tom Whitehead in the Telegraph,

The reforms will see GPs and NHS trusts given a key say in licensing applications, particularly where alcohol-fuelled disorder starts to impact on a local health service, such as A&E or ambulance services.

A separate review could also see councils given the power to refuse alcohol licenses solely on the grounds that they could damage "public health".

Well that's going to end well isn't it? It's almost obligatory to be anti-alcohol (for the proles) if you take a senior role in an NHS trust. NHS trusts provide a huge chunk (£542,000 out of a £1.13m total) of direct funding for anti-alcohol fakecharity Alcohol Concern (2009 account). In the same accounting period the general public donated the grand sum of £8186. Allowing the NHS to intervene in licensing matters on the grounds of "public health concerns" is ridiculous. Whether a bar opens or closes at a particular location is not going to impact the amount of alcohol people consume, just the location at which they consume it. Unless of course ALL licenses are rejected on "public health" grounds.

The article goes on to say that

Under the proposals, individuals will be able to object to applications "regardless of geographic proximity" as long as they show they will be affected by alcohol-related problems.

It could include someone living close to a taxi rank used regularly by nightclub customers, people affected by noise because of night bus stops nearby or those with concerns about going into a town at night because of too much drunken behaviour.

Wasn't one of the main arguments in favour of the smoking ban that people were put off from going to pubs because they didn't like smelling of smoke? Non-smokers were going to flock to pubs once the ban was enforced because they could enjoy a sociable drink and not be subjected to second hand smoke .. .. .. .. except they didn't did they?

Strangely when this Bill was announced in the Queen's Speech there was no mention of this provision. We'll have to watch closely and see if Tom is correct.