Exploring the Impact of Alcohol Licensing in England and Scotland

A new study takes a detailed look at how a cumulative impact policy worked in one Local Authority

T Pliakas, M Egan and K Lock.

Cumulative impact policies (CIPs) can be introduced by Local Governments in England and Wales. Typically, a Local Authority identifies specific places where there are problems linked to high levels of alcohol sales and consumption, such as crime and anti-social behaviour. Those places become known as ‘cumulative impact zones’ where any new applications for licenses to sell alcohol face more strict criteria in order to be accepted. In this way, CIPs can be said to strengthen the ability of Local Government to either reject new license applications to sell alcohol, or ensure that the applications meet additional criteria such as reducing opening hours.

Previous research has found that in different Local Governments, CIPs are used in different ways to tackle different local problems, and some are implemented more stringently than others.

In this research study we wanted to take a closer look at how a CIP could impact on a particular urban area. We worked with one Local Government in London to evaluate the impact of introducing multiple cumulative impact zones. We studied impacts over time on the number and type of applications for licenses to sell alcohol and their outcomes. We also looked at impacts on opening hours for alcohol sales, alcohol-related ambulance call-outs and crime, and – with limited data – impacts on alcohol sales.

In this Local Authority, the CIP had most impact on the type of new license applications, rather than overall number. Licence applications after the policy was introduced tended to involve shorter trading hours and were for fewer off-licences. We also found early declines in overall crime rates and longer term, small reductions in units of alcohol sold in bars in cumulative impact zones. Alcohol-related ambulance callout rates did not change significantly. From this, we conclude that the CIP had been partially successful. It had changed the types of licenced alcohol retail premises being approved – with shorter hours and less off licence sales- which was in line with the aims of the Local Government. It also partially reduced some alcohol-related harms, without appearing to impact on the local night time economy.  However, a range of other measures may be necessary for further benefits to reducing alcohol related health harms.

To find out more see :

Pliakas T, Egan M, Gibbons J, Ashton C, Hart J, Lock K. Increasing powers to reject licences to sell alcohol: Impacts on availability, sales and behavioural outcomes from a novel natural experiment evaluation. Preventive Medicine. 2018;116:87-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.09.010

Public Health & Alcohol Licensing Study – An Overview

Principal Investigator: Prof. Karen Lock, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Co-investigators: Dr. Joanna Reynolds & Dr. Matt Egan, LSHTM; Dr. Ghazaleh Pashmi & Dr. Matthew Andrews, Safe Sociable London Partnership; Dr. Jin Lim, Southwark Council.

The Public Health & Alcohol Licensing (PHAL) study was funded through the NIHR School for Public Health Research, and was conducted between July 2016 and May 2018. The main focus of the study was to explore factors shaping public health practitioners’ involvement in and influence on alcohol licensing processes, in local authorities in Greater London.  The study involved ethnographic observation of public health practitioners’ day-to-day licensing work, focus groups and interviews with a range of licensing stakeholders, a survey of public health practitioners and analysis of routine public health data on alcohol licence applications.  In total 24 out of 33 London local authorities participated in one or more parts of the study.

Key findings from the study highlight the wide variety of capacity and confidence to contribute to the licensing process across different public health teams in London, ranging from no contribution at all to regular submission of representations against alcohol licence applications. Factors that seem to shape whether and how public health act on alcohol licence applications include:

• different perceptions of the status of public health in the licensing process , both within local authorities and more generally, as reflected in the Licensing Act and licensing objectives;
• different interpretations of the kinds of data that can be used by public health in representations, reflecting different expectations for ‘evidence’ within and across local authorities;
• the level of engagement between public health and other responsible authorities, whereby practitioners engaging regularly with other RAs reported more perceived influence over the licensing process.

While many public health practitioners and other licensing stakeholders were doubtful of the influence public health alone can have on individual licence applications, there were some clear examples of public health influence, often through successful negotiation with applicants before licensing sub-committee hearings. Furthermore, many practitioners see a valuable role for public health in shaping broader licensing policy, such as Statement of Licensing Policy and Cumulative Impact Policies, with some examples of how these policies can in turn be used to support public health representations against individual licence applications.

The findings and recommendations of the PHAL study are presented in a report and pathway graphic available here, and in a paper published in Journal of Public Health, available here.