Measures to reduce alcohol related disorder in Glasgow city centre

Abstract

This article takes a critical view of the evaluation activities to date on the impact of a partnership among the key public agencies and private enterprises providing services in Glasgow city centre, to reduce alcohol related disorder. Partnership work already in process was reconceptualized in terms of a model of community prevention of alcohol problems through policy change, as tested and popularized by Holder. The model contained five strands, covering community engagement, safer licensed premises, environmental improvements, enhancements to transport systems, and active management of the spatial density of alcohol outlets. Some planned interventions were not feasible, for example, the prevention of intoxicated people being served alcohol; other policies were constrained by contextual issues, for example, server training requirements not finalized. Other interventions appeared very successful on short-term impact evaluation, but any effect on long-term outcome measures was difficult to disentangle from overall social trends. More centralized planning, co-ordination, and leadership would enhance the validity of comparisons across varied community contexts in such studies, to help establish feasible common core minimum datasets for community outcomes, for example. The Holder philosophy appeared to promote joint policy making and implementation in Glasgow, but it is too early to assess true impact.