BOOZE TAX ON LOCAL FETES!

After SNP’s ‘nanny state’ minimum pricing on alcohol, Ministers target our bowling clubs and church socials

A ‘TAX hike’ on alcohol could threaten thousands of community events in towns and villages across Scotland.

Organisers of village fetes, farmers’ markets, Highland Games, charity fundraisers and amateur dramatic productions fear that a proposed change in licensing rules could leave them unable to sell any drinks.

Groups hosting certain types of event where alcohol is to be served need permission and must apply to the council for an occasional licence, which costs £10. But the Scottish Government is looking at raising the cost of those licences – possibly to £100, a 900 per cent hike.

Councils claim the cost of occasional licences should go up to help them

recoup the money they spend running the licencing system.

Public health bodies back the move, claiming alcohol is too prominent at many events and causes anti-social behaviour and long-term health problems.

But community groups say it will wipe out their meagre profits and threaten the existence of occasions that are the lifeblood of many town and villages.

It comes after minimum unit pricing and the ban on multi-buy deals raised the price of drinks in supermarkets and off-licences.

Penny Edwards, director of the Culbokie Community Trust, Rossshire, which is trying to raise money for a new community hub, said: ‘It’s mainly our fundraising activities that will be affected.

‘We try to do things that will being the community together.

‘It’s early evening events and we want people to come along and be relaxed. It could be a quiz, or celebrity speaker. We have an afternoon cream tea, and people love to have a glass of bubbly.

‘It adds something to village life, it’s really good for the village.’

Alcohol can be a small part of an event but key to raising funds – as it is for the 104th Edinburgh North East Scouts.

Scout leader Steve Hall said: ‘Parents come along, pitch a tent, do scouting activities and later we have a beer. Everyone’s out by 9pm. We make the bulk of our money at the bar. If they increase the cost of a licence, it reduces what we make.’

Frank Whitelaw, secretary of Red Deer Bowling Club, in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, said his club leases premises from the council and is banned from getting a permanent licence. It has to use occasional licences.

He said: ‘We open noon to 8pm on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the summer season. That’s 40 to 41 nights a year, so about £400. Imagine if that increased tenfold. The bar only makes £2,000 in profit – that would be wiped out.’

The Government was warned against hammering small clubs by its own quango, Sportscotland. An agency spokesman said: ‘There is a strong case for a distinction between organisations operating for profit and non-profit organisations such as sport clubs, which use their income to deliver wider community benefit.’

However, councils and health lobbyists want the rise in licence fees to raise money and cut drinking levels.

A spokesman for Cosla, the council umbrella group, said: ‘There is no doubt such occasional licences are a heavy administrative burden.

‘Each council will have their own view on what is an appropriate level to charge. The current £10 fee does not cover the administrative burdens occasional licences cause.’

A consultation response from the Scottish Public Health Alcohol Group, a partnership of NHS, council and health academics, argued that alcohol served at events such as village fetes and amateur dramatic shows is bad for the nation’s health and can lead to public disorder. It said: ‘The sheer volume of applications in some areas is so large that they have a significant impact in terms of access to alcohol and public health effects of excess alcohol consumption, and are a risk to children and young people as well as causing nuisance to the local residents and contributing to crime and disorder.’

Scottish Tory culture spokesman Rachael Hamilton said: ‘What of Highland Games, village hall weddings, fundraisers, quizzes, gala days and myriad other events which are a large part of rural life?

‘There are villages where the local pub is shut and these events are the best way for people to mingle.

‘The SNP has shown a lack of consideration for rural areas over the past 12 years in charge.

‘Telling villages they will have to pay through the nose for one-off, convivial events would be the last straw for those fed up with Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP Government.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The consultation reviewing the fee for occasional licences and considering a limit on their number and duration closed in July.

‘We are extremely grateful to all of those who responded and we are fully considering all responses received.’

Warned against move by sports quango