Item 5 Appendix 2 - Community Consultation Alcohol 2022 Final
West Dunbartonshire Council · 9 May 2023
Back to Licensing Board — 9 May 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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West Dunbartonshire Health & Social Care Partnership Community Consulation on Alcohol 2022 For futher information contact WDHSCP Health Improvement Team wdhscp@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
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1/9 1. Introduction This report provides a summary of the results from a public consultation on alcohol consumption and purchasing habits of West Dunbartonshire residents. The survey was conducted by West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership (WDHSCP) as part of an evidence gathering process to inform the development of West Dunbartonshire Licensing Board Overprovision Policy. The question set was based on a survey previously used by other Health and Social Care Partnerships in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The online survey was available for completion online using Webropol from Tuesday 15th November to Wednesday 14th December 2022. The Webropol link was accessible via the HSCP website which was promoted via the West Dunbartonshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership, Health Improvement Networks, Licensing Forum and West Dunbartonshire Council social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and Trickle). A total of 224 respondents completed the survey. This number of responses does not form a representative sample for the population of West Dunbartonshire. Therefore, the results are not broken down by locality. In addition, the self-selection sampling method may produce bias in findings. However, with these caveats, the findings provide an insight of the opinions of local people and provide context to other evidence available. 2. Respondent Demographic Profile Of the total respondents, 63% were female and 35% male with 2% preferring not to answer. The majority of responses 28% were aged 45-54yrs, 27% were 35-44yrs with 1% 75+yrs. The vast majority of respondents (94%) described themselves as white Scottish, with 2% declining to answer. The postcode data recorded by respondents was analysed. As the survey was open to individuals that lived and worked in West Dunbartonshire a small number 3% (n=6) who completed the survey were not a resident within the West Dunbartonshire area. For the purpose of this report the G60 postcodes have been grouped under Clydebank data (as the majority of G60 codes are classified as Clydebank according to Scotland’s Official Statistics1website). Just under half of respondents are resident in a Clydebank area postcode, 27% Dumbarton and 23% Alexandria areas.
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2/9 Figure 1 Postcode Data 3. Alcohol Consumption All respondents were asked where they primarily consumed alcohol. All 224 respondents completed this information with half of respondents (50%) reporting drinking at home. Twenty percent stated they drink alcohol at a pub, bar or nightclub. Sixteen percent reported they do not drink alcohol with 2% citing other as the main location for consuming alcohol.
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3/9 Figure 2 Drinking alcohol - location
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4/9 Figure 3 Reason for drinking alcohol at chosen location Respondents were asked the reasons for choosing their drinking location. 188 completed this question with a total of 370 separate responses given. • Nearly three quarters (71%) chose comfort/social/relaxation as their reason for drinking alcohol in the location given. • A third (33%) cited consuming alcohol with a meal as the reason and 31% cited price. • Nearly a quarter (23%) stated it was for reasons of convenience • 6% cited other reasons which mostly related to social reasons, drinking with friends or family or disliking a pub environment.
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5/9 Alcohol purchasing patterns Respondents were asked about where they purchased alcohol. Of the 188 respondents, 67% purchased alcohol from a supermarket. 2.7% reported they did not buy any alcohol. No respondents reported using food delivery services, garages, off licences or sports clubs to purchase alcohol. Figure 4 Location of purchasing alcohol Those that completed the question on purchasing patterns (n=108) were asked to provide the rationale for buying alcohol from that particular location. A total of 183 responses were provided.
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6/9 • Nearly half (46%) were influenced by the price of the alcohol they were buying. This differs from the rationale when choosing where to drink. • 40% chose their location by the range and variety of alcohol on offer. • 31% bought their alcohol in a location that was convenient to their house. • 14.2% cited other reasons for buying alcohol at their chosen location which mostly included socialising. Figure 5 Reasons for purchasing alcohol To gain an understanding of the distance travelled to purchase alcohol, questions were asked about mode of transport used and the average time spent travelling. • Two thirds (66%) of respondents would use a car/van/motorbike to travel to make a purchase with nearly a quarter (24%) walking. • Nearly one third of respondents travel less than 5 minutes to purchase alcohol with nearly 48% respondents take between 5 minutes and 15 minutes travelling to buy alcohol. This indicates that over 80% of respondents have a less than 15
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7/9 minute travel time to purchase. • Figure 6 Time spent travelling to purchase alcohol 11. Availability of Alcohol The consultation asked participants their views on the number of premises that currently sell alcohol in West Dunbartonshire. Of the n=224 participants nearly two thirds, 62% felt the number was about right with 29% considering the number to be too high and 9% considered the number to be too low. Those that answered ‘Too High’ were asked a subsequent question on the type of premises that was over provided for. Of the 65 respondents: • 77% felt there were too many corner shops/ convenience stores sold alcohol • 42% felt there were too many pub/clubs • 34% felt there were too many garage/petrol stations selling alcohol.
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8/9 Figure 7 Premise selling alcohol considered to be too high Next Steps This report has been made available to West Dunbartonshire Licensing Board for consideration and as evidence of community engagement to support the update of local Licensing Policy Overprovision Statement.