THERE will doubtless be calls for the revamped Nicholson Square to be designated a no drinking zone. Without doubt, drawing on the Hunter Square experience would be effective in ridding it of drunken vagrants. But where to?
One of the difficulties of dealing with such behaviour is that there is no easy or apparent solution. Such is the availability of cheap alcohol that it is impossible to control abuse. Even those on limited incomes can afford damaging amounts and rais
ing the price will do little to curb this abuse and may in fact lead to those who are of a mind to ingest far more damaging substances to feed their addiction. Ban a persistent drunk from one shop and he will simply find another or use a drinking buddy to obtain supplies.
A city-wide ban on public drinking is an option. But would the police have the manpower to enforce it effectively and would they have the accommodation to lock up those that breached it? And do they not have better things to do than act as social workers to those with severe drink problems or to punish the thousands who can enjoy an al fresco tipple without becoming comatose?
It would be naive to think that the drunk tank plan which was shelved last year after the council and NHS Lothian decided not to spend £200,000 setting it up would have eradicated the problem, but it would have been a start. Taking drunks off the streets for a night might only have brought some temporary relief but the benefit may have been in giving professionals the opportunity to offer help to those that might be interested. The city's former drink and drugs tsar, Tom Wood, thought it was a good idea and blamed 30 years of under- investment for perpetuating the problem.
It will be interesting to see if his successor, Peter Gabbitas, will use his experience in social work to tackle the issue from a different direction.
One of the other problems is that the geographical location of accommodation for the homeless gives the issue a high profile. Most hostels in Edinburgh are located in or around the city centre and the majority of residents when they leave in the mornings tend not to stray too far from their accommodation. Thus, those that abuse alcohol tend to form social drinking clusters in busy areas and thus attract public attention.
Experience has also shown that imposing a drinking ban on a specific location – like Hunter Square – is not an effective solution. Yes, it reduces complaints from that locality but merely moves the problem on to another area. And it does nothing to address the root cause of what is a much wider social issue. Perhaps what is needed, as Mr Wood had suggested prior to his departure, is intervention and not displacement. Experience should have shown by now that the latter only moves the problem into someone else's front yard.
The full article contains 504 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
