A CONTROVERSIAL booze bid at a luxury holiday park has been put on hold after police deemed it would create an “impossible situation”.
A formal police objection was made to a licensing application at the Forest Holidays complex at Glentress, near Peebles.
The company submitted an application to Scottish Borders Licensing Board to sell alcohol that can be consumed in self-contained cabins.
Under the bid, guests in the 56 cabins would be able to order “welcome hampers” for delivery to their log cabins, which may include alcohol.
In addition, they could rent draft beer machines and glassware. This would enable residents to “home” pour drinks for their own consumption within the cabins.
But the application was formally objected to by the police when licensing board members met on Friday, April 25.
As a result the applicant has requested that the bid is deferred to the committee’s May meeting to enable its solicitors to consider the police objections in full.
In his letter of objection, chief superintendent Gregg Banks, divisional commander of the Lothians and Scottish Borders Division, says the application raises “insurmountable obstacles” as it would be impossible to supervise whether guests were consuming alcohol outwith of the legal licensing hours of 10am to 10pm.
He says: “It is the police view that it would be difficult to maintain any form of supervision unless the applicant plans to have a trained separate member of staff within each cabin during the whole period of licensed hours.
“As this option would create an impossible situation for both the applicant and their guests staying in the cabins it would almost certainly be doomed to failure.
“The application does not cover how the applicant would enforce that no alcohol is consumed within the cabins outwith the licensed hours.
“The application is to licence a holiday park therefore any person consuming alcohol on the premises after hours would be committing an offence as they do not reside there or are guests of someone who resides there.
“As a licensed premises the police would have the powers, at any time without warrant, to enter and inspect the premises (including the cabins) and to prevent a constable from doing so would be unlawful.
“Guests at the park would no doubt find this highly intrusive, and this again illustrates why it is not considered appropriate to have the cabins as part of the premises licence.
“Regarding outside drinking, as part of the licensed premises all decking areas at the cabins would come under existing board policy and if licensed would be expected to comply with the terminal hour of 2200 hours.
“This is standard within the Scottish Borders to prevent noise nuisance. Should the licence be granted the police would expect that this is maintained for all cabins (as is enforced for all other licensed premises in the area).
“It is the police opinion that the application in its current form presents insurmountable obstacles contravening all five aspects of the licensing objectives.”
The objections are preventing crime and disorder; securing public safety; preventing public nuisance; protecting and improving public health and protecting children and young persons from harm.
