Oldham vs Brighton: consumption reduction vs harm reduction

While the BBC has recently given widespread publicity to Oldham's efforts to reduce drinking in its clubs and bars, Brighton is taking a different approach. According to The Publican, Brighton's softly-softly approach is more likely to succeed.

Brighton City Council adopts a more flexible approach than Oldham its drug and alcohol policy, emphaisiing harm reduction instead of consumption reduction.

Other local authorities might be looking to follow Oldham’s lead, as featured on BBC's Panorama documentary last month, in trying to deal with disorder. This includes tougher regulation of licensed premises, including minimum pricing and post office-style queues to reduce how much people are drinking.

But, says the licenced trades magazine, The Publican, they ought to be made aware that another, less aggressive, approach is producing results in Brighton which, over the last few years helped to see minor assaults fall by 24 per cent, assault injuries outside the home down 13 per cent, the perception of drunkenness drop 30 per cent and 29 per cent more people feeling safe on the streets.

Read The Publican's take on the prevention vs cure debate here