Consultation on the safety of women and vulnerable persons and alcohol licensed premises

With increasing national concern with reference to the safety of women, Ashford Borough Council’s Licensing team are consulting on amending its Licensing policy to set their expectations with reference to how alcohol licensed premises should help to keep women and vulnerable persons safe.

The proposal sets out that certain alcohol licensed premises would be expected to; provide relevant staff training, operate the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme or similar schemes, actively deal with incidents brought to their attention, make sure that customers are aware of the availability of free tap water, have phone chargers available to make sure people can make a call to get home safely, display relevant public safety posters, and, provide anti-spiking devices such as bottle stoppers or drink testing strips.

The draft proposal is available to view on our consultation portal and the Licensing team are asking for views and suggestions to be submitted prior to the 31 December 2021, after which a final proposal will be presented to the Licensing Committee.