Hastings Community Alcohol Partnership

What is the Community Alcohol Partnership?

Hastings Borough Council is the lead for the only Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) in Sussex. The CAP aimed to make Hastings a safer and healthier place to live and work by tackling underage drinking and associated antisocial behaviour.

Surveys of parents and residents have highlighted that both are significant problems in the area. It is in all our interests to promote a healthy attitude to the use of alcohol.

CAPs are made up of partnerships between local authorities, police, schools, retailers, neighbourhood groups and health providers, working together to empower communities to tackle alcohol-related harm to young people and improve the quality of life for residents. They aim to reduce the sale of alcohol to young people, advise them on the dangers of drinking and provide alcohol-free activities through youth services and local charities.

Across the country CAPs have had outstanding impacts on local crime, anti-social behaviour, litter, feelings of safety and reductions in underage purchasing of alcohol. 
 
The Hastings CAP brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including East Sussex County Council, Hastings Borough Council, the NHS, Safer Hastings Partnership, Sussex Police, Licensing Teams, the Hastings Academy, retailers and the community.

All licensed premises in the area were recently visited by the Hastings Borough Council Licensing Officer to give advice on how to refuse suspected underage sales, and surveys have been carried out with residents and parents.

Statistics

A recent survey of people in Ore were recently surveyed who had children between the ages of 11-16 showed that.

• 81% said that their child drinks alcohol
• 61% felt that alcohol was a 'rite of passage'
• Although only 25% admitted to buying alcohol for their own children, 39% said they knew another parent that did
• 39% knew that our brain development continues until our early 20s and alcohol can affect this.

Perceptions towards underage drinking  were also  asked, and 50% felt that young people hanging around shops asking adults to buy alcohol for them was a very big or fairly big problem.

Working with NSMC

The CAP works with other partners including the National Social Marketing Centre (NSMC) to raise awareness of the harms of young people drinking, including being given alcohol by parents or relatives. NSMC has researched underage drinking in Ore and found that parents often supply their underage children with alcohol.
 
As a response to this the NSMC has designed several hard hitting 'myth busting' posters focussing on the reasons why parents told them they give their kids alcohol, and to debunk the reasons/myths that are often given. The posters are now being displayed in shops, pubs and other public areas to raise awareness among parents.

To contact the CAP coordaintor please email hastingscap@hastings.gov.uk.