Item 8 Appendix 1 - WDC Over Provision Report - Feb 2023
West Dunbartonshire Council · 7 March 2023
Back to Licensing Board — 7 March 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Analyst Unit Police Scotland Argyll & West Dunbartonshire Stirling Road Dumbarton G82 3PT Date: 20 February 2023
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Introduction The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 Section 7 places a duty on all Licensing Boards to publish what is to be known as a ‘Licensing Policy Statement’ for their area for a 4-year period. This statement should offer guidance and clarity on the policy on which Licensing Boards base their decisions in implementing their functions under the Act. As part of this policy statement Licensing Boards are required to make a pro-active assessment of overprovision of licensed premises in their area. This report has been requested by Michael McDougall, Depute Clerk to the West Dunbartonshire Licensing Board and PS David Holmes, Licensing Department, Police Scotland, Dumbarton and will be used to inform the West Dunbartonshire Council Overprovision report for 2023. The key purpose of the report is to provide information in relation to levels of alcohol related crimes and incidents occurring within West Dunbartonshire during the period 04 November 2019 to 03 November 2022. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in various periods of lockdown, particularly between March 2020 and March 2021, which significantly influenced crime and incident levels across West Dunbartonshire, in particular those occurring within a public space. Most crime and incident types relating to violence, disorder and domestic abuse saw a significant downward trend during this period. The potential effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on crime / incident figures should therefore be borne in mind when considering the contents of this report. Aim This report aims to provide analysis of number and location of licensed premises within the West Dunbartonshire Council area by intermediate zone. The report will examine levels of associated crimes and incidents, indicating where possible if alcohol was a factor. This report will highlight areas with high levels of crime and recorded incidents that also have a high number of licensed premises. Intermediate zones are a statistical geography that sit between data zones and local authorities and were created for use with the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) programme. There are 1279 intermediate zones in Scotland, containing between 2,500 and 6,000 household residents per zone. West Dunbartonshire has 18 Intermediate Zones and a total population of 87,790. Maps showing the boundaries of the 18 Intermediate Zones is provided on the following page.
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Methodology Details of all licensed premises locations within each Intermediate Data Zone (IDZ) were provided by West Dunbartonshire Council. Population figures for each IDZ was extracted from the Scottish Government website for 2022 and combined with the Intermediate Datazones 2011 layer used by Police Scotland within the ArcGIS system. Crime and incident data was extracted from the Police Scotland Crime Management System and ScOMIS for the period 4 November 2019 to 3 November 2022. This data was extracted on 27 January 2023. Information relating to Group 1 Crimes of Violence and Minor Assault was extracted from the Crime Management Database held locally and Domestic Abuse Incident and crime data was extracted from Interim Vulnerable Persons Database (iVPD) by the APU, Police Scotland, Dalmarnock. Taking into consideration both population sizes and crime and incident levels within West Dunbartonshire the comparative rate per head of population was set to 10,000. Data Limitations It should be noted that current police systems do not facilitate the recording of whether crimes and incidents involved alcohol or where alcohol may have been a contributing factor. A crime database is however held locally which contains the details of all crimes involving violence with West Dunbartonshire. This information is updated manually on a weekly basis and an assessment made as to whether alcohol was a possible contributory factor. Data extracted from iVPD system in relation to Domestic Abuse contains an alcohol marker which was used to filter alcohol related incidents and crimes. Youth related disorder incidents were filtered using a key word search for the following: YOUTH, YTH, KID, TEEN, BOY, GIRL, GANG or GROUP. These data are NOT OFFICIAL POLICE STATISTICS and should be considered as management information.
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Group 1 Crimes of Violence & Minor Assault Group 1 Crimes of Violence are those considered to have involved ‘serious violence’ and include murder, attempted murder, culpable homicide, serious assault, robbery, the cruel and unnatural treatment of children, threats and extortion. Minor assault includes crimes committed against emergency workers. Levels of ‘serious’ violence occurring within West Dunbartonshire has seen a slight increase in recent years with an increase of 13.4% compared to the 5 year average for the period April – October 2022. Table 1 shows the number of Group 1 Crimes of Violence recorded within each Intermediate Zone during the period 04 November 2021 – 03 November 2022. It also provides comparison with the 3 year average (2019 – 22). In terms of Group 1 Violence the highest number of crimes per 10,000 head of population was recorded within IZ08 Mountblow/Parkhall and IZ18 Balloch North. IZ08 Mountblow/Parkhall also recorded the third highest number of minor assaults per 10,000 head of population. The highest number of minor assaults per head of population was recorded in IZ03 Drumry/Linnvale/North Kilbowie followed by IZ02 Dalmuir. Table 1: Crimes of Violence with alcohol marker by IDZ per 10,000 head of population
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Disorder Crimes and Incidents Crimes1 and incidents2 of disorder generally include actions which cause annoyance to others within the community or damage to their property. During 2021/22 both disorder crimes and incidents within West Dunbartonshire followed an overall downward trend compared to the 3 year average. As shown below, IZ02 Dalmuir recorded the highest number of disorder crimes and incidents during 2021/22 (728) followed by Dumbarton Central/Silverton/Townend (596). However, when comparing crimes per 10,000 head of population based on the 3 year average IZ02 Dalmuir continued to record the highest number but IZ08 Mountblow/Parkhall recorded the second highest number, followed by IZ03 Drumry/Linnvale/North Kilbowie. This reflects current ASB trends whereby these areas typically experience the highest concentration of crimes and incidents. Table 2: Disorder crimes and incidents by IDZ per 10,000 head of population 1 Breach of the Peace; Civic Government (S) Act 1982 s.47; Vandalism; Culpable and Reckless; Malicious Mischief; Wilful Fireraising; Criminal Justice & Licensing Scotland Act 2010 s.38 2 AB-28 (Disturbance); AB-24 (Public Nuisance); AB-53 (Noise); AB-55 (Drinking in Public)
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Youth Disorder Youth related disorder incidents were identified by filtering all disorder incidents using a key word search. Figures indicate an overall downward trend in youth disorder within West Dunbartonshire during 2021/22 compared to the previous 3 year average. As shown in table 3 below the Intermediate Zones that have recorded a higher number of incidents both in number terms and by head of population are largely aligned to known ‘hotspot’ locations for youth disorder. IZ10 Dumbarton East has seen an increase compared to the previous report this is largely due to a spike in youth disorder incidents for the period 2020/21 which has increased the 3 year average although there has only been 28 incidents reported in 2021/22. Table 3: Youth Disorder incidents by IDZ per 10,000 head of population
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Alcohol Specific Crimes Alcohol specific crimes3 are those where the consumption of alcohol or the act of being intoxicated are the libelled crimes. Also incorporated in this section are those crimes which come under the Licensing Scotland Act 2005 for crimes including being heavily intoxicated in licensed premises or attempting to enter premises whilst heavily intoxicated. Crimes relating to consuming alcohol in public and being drunk and incapable has continued to reduce considerably during 2021/22 continuing an overall downward trend. This may in part be related to Covid-19 and the effect of lockdowns on alcohol related public space crimes over the last 3 years. As shown below, despite not recording the highest number of crimes IZ02 Dalmuir has recorded the highest number per 10,000 head of population, followed by IZ05 Goldenhill/Hargate/Parkhall, and then IZ12 Dumbarton Central/Silverton/Townend which has the highest number of licensed premises. Table 4: Alcohol specific crimes by IDZ per 10,000 head of population 3 Local Street Drinking Bylaws, Licensing Scotland Act 2005 (s. 105, 111, 63, 102, 105, 111, 115, 116); Civic Government (S) Act 1982 s.50; Drink Driving. Excludes Fixed Penalties
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Domestic Crimes & Incidents The table below details the number of domestic crimes and incidents which were given alcohol markers meaning the victim, offender or both had consumed alcohol. Although it is of note that an alcohol marker is not always populated for every crime or incident involving alcohol. The total number of incidents with an alcohol marker recorded in 2021/22 was 291 which is a considerable reduction from 2020/21 (411) and is lower than the previous 3 year average figure (388). Domestic crimes have also reduced with 126 recorded 2021/22 compared to 194 recorded in the previous year 2020/21 which is also lower than the 3 year average figure (178). As shown in the table below, the intermediate zones which experienced the highest number of domestic crimes and incidents in number terms also recorded a higher number per 10,000 head of population based on the 3 year average. While IZ01 Whitecrook recorded a slightly lower 3 year average (42.7) than the other areas highlighted, it also has a considerably lower population hence it ranked third highest. Table 5: Domestic Abuse crimes and incidents with alcohol marker per 10,000 head of population
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Key Findings In order to identify which areas had experienced the highest number of alcohol related crimes and incidents overall, each intermediate zone was given a number representative of its position or rank within each crime category and the top three highlighted to show which IZ appeared most often as an area with high levels of crime or incidents. As such, in the table provided below numbers are only indicative of the position of the IZ within each crime or incident category where 1st represents the IZ that has recorded the highest number of crimes or incidents and 18th the lowest number. This is based on the 3 year average figure per 10,000 head of population. Table 6: IDZ within West Dunbartonshire ranked by the number of crimes and incidents occurring per 10,000 head of population
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OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS OFFICIAL: POLICE AND PARTNERS Key Findings Cont. This clearly highlights that IZ02 Dalmuir ranks highest across 3 of the 5 different crime and incident categories and second highest against a further one. While this area has the third highest number of licensed premises it also incorporates Clydebank Shopping Centre and the retail park and therefore also has a slightly lower population (eighth lowest). IZ08 Mountblow/Parkhall is ranked second highest overall, ranking highest in 2 of the 5 crime and incident categories notably in alcohol related violence as well as domestic abuse crimes and incidents. This IZ also ranks second highest in alcohol related disorder and youth disorder. Similarily IZ03, Drumry/Linnvale/North Kilbowie ranked third in relation to alcohol related disorder, this is in line with the higher concentrations of anti-social behaviour typically recorded within these areas. IZ12 Dumbarton Central/Silverton/Townend, recorded third highest in relation to alcohol specific crimes and youth disorder. This area has the highest number of licensed premises recorded and is a known hotspot area for youth disorder.