Consultation on off-sales licensing in Aberdeen

19 January 2018

The Aberdeen City Licensing Board has opened a consultation as part of plans to establish an interim overprovision policy for off-sales premises.

Specific areas under consideration as part of the consultation include the level of current off-sales provision in Aberdeen, the types of premises operating and potential exceptions to any proposed overprovision policy.

There are around 200 licensed off-sales premises operating in Aberdeen currently.

Cllr Marie Boulton, convener of the Aberdeen City Licensing Board, said: “The Board is currently operating without a policy in this area and we feel it is important to establish one on an interim basis, prior to the full consultation on the Statement of Licensing Policy which is expected to take place this year.

“The Board has recognised difficulties in establishing links between the operation of premises in small defined areas of the city and the available statistics on health and crime which cover Aberdeen as a whole. For the purposes of off-sales provision only, we have designated the Board’s whole areas as one locality in order to be able to attribute meaningful weight to relevant data which may not be available at a more localised level.”

Feedback on off-sales overprovision will be accepted in addition to input in relation to the overall Statement of Licensing Policy, with the current policy available to view at: https://goo.gl/UuGb38 .

The consultation can be found here: https://goo.gl/hJjn8N .

Comments must be submitted by 28 February 2018. These should be marked ‘Off-sales overprovision consultation’ or ‘Policy statement’ and submitted by email to licensing@aberdeencity.gov.uk or by post to The Licensing Team, Business Hub 6, Level 1 South, Marischal College, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AB.