East Lothian Licensing Board Overprovision Consultation

Overview

By law, Licensing Boards must produce a ‘Statement of Licensing Policy’ every five years, which includes an Overprovision declaration relating to the area the Board serves. Overprovision is an assessment of the capacity of licensed premises in Boards' areas. In simple terms it is a judgement as to whether there are sufficient numbers of alcohol licensed on-consumption premises (pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants and the like) in the area or alcohol off-sales licensed premises (shops, supermarkets etc). If the view is that there are enough of either or both types of licences then the presumption would be for the Board to refuse any further licences.

The assessment of overprovision is not a precise calculation, but takes into account a raft of sources of information including the number and type of licences already in operation in each area, alcohol related crime and disorder figures, alcohol related domestic abuse concerns, health data, local knowledge of alcohol related problems as well as nationally available research information.

In assessing overprovision, the Board seeks to consult the views of the public in East Lothian and would be grateful if you could take a few minutes of your time to provide us with your thoughts on the subject by completing the attached questionnaire.