03 September 2010Changing attitudes to drinking
Kent Community Alcohol Partnership (KCAP) is a partnership project comprising Kent County Council Trading Standards Officers, Kent Police, local authority (in our case Officers from the Licensing and Community Development teams at Sevenoaks District Council), Retail of Alcohol Standards Group (RASG), town/parish councils, local businesses/retailers and residents.
The partnership aims to change attitudes to drinking by:
Edenbridge, within Sevenoaks District Council’s area, is one of just three Kent communities chosen to pilot the scheme. It is hoped to roll out the scheme across Kent after the pilot project finishes in September. The other areas chosen are Thanet and Canterbury.
Education and enforcement are two of the key themes behind the pilot scheme and the target age group is 12 – 24 years. Part of the project is a programme Play Place Innov8 working with young people. This team will be going out on Wednesdays and Fridays over a 12 week period to engage young people. It will include designing t-shirts, badge making, 5 a-side football and the possibility of making a DVD about Edenbridge and the young people living there. There will be a team of trained youth workers involved in this programme and they will be looking at issues as to why young people drink.
Trading Standards Officers, Police Officers/Police Community Support Officers and Licensing Officers from Sevenoaks District Council have and will continue to carry out joint visits to licensed premises to work with licensees to educate but also to understand where additional support may be needed. To date there has been a very positive reaction from businesses and all authorities are very keen to remain in contact with them and work with them.
Alcohol has already been confiscated from youngsters and one retailer has been served with a fixed penalty notice in relation to this. The scheme will be more visible in the summer months when there are more youngsters out and about.
Training on Think/Challenge 25 for the licensed trade in Edenbridge will take place on 20th May at 11 am at Edenbridge Men's Club.
It is hoped that as part of the project Think/Challenge 25 will be brought into Edenbridge so that all retailers/licensees will be asking for identification (photo card driving licence, passport or PASS approved proof of age card) from anyone who appears to be under 25 years of age.
Please select the following link for further information on Challenge 25
There is also an evaluation project underway to understand the impact of the project and to enable lessons to be learnt for when the project is rolled out across Kent.
Top tips:
If you would like further information regarding the pilot scheme please telephone the KCAP Hotline 08458 247247 or email KCAP@kent.gov.uk.
Alternatively, you can call Claire Perry on 01732 227325 or email licensing@sevenoaks.gov.uk.
Please select the following link for further information which can be found on Kent County Council’s website http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/Kent/kcap.htm
Or select the following link for Retail of Alcohol Standards Group – RASG http://www.wsta.co.uk/Community-Alcohol-Partnerships.html
