Fauldhouse and the Breich Valley Local Area Committee
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FAULDHOUSE AND THE BREICH VALLEY LOCAL AREA COMMITTEE ALCOHOL REDUCTION PILOT – ADDIEWELL AND STONEYBURN REPORT BY HEAD OF CULTURAL, COMMUNITIES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES A. PURPOSE OF REPORT The purpose of this report is to inform members of the alcohol reduction project and its impact on the ward. B. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the committee notes the alcohol reduction project in Addiewell and Stoneyburn and the intension to engage with school children over the next 3 months. C. SUMMARY OF IMPLICATIONS I Council Values Focusing on our customers’ needs; being honest, open and accountable; providing equality of opportunities; developing employees; making best use of our resources; and working in partnership. II Policy and Legal (including Strategic Environmental Assessment, Equality Issues, Health or Risk Assessment) III Resources - (Financial, Existing resources, DAT Staffing and Property) IV Consultations Stakeholder group, DAT, Local Community, Community Regeneration Team. D. TERMS OF REPORT Background West Lothian Council has embarked on a two year prevention of alcohol misuse project in three target areas in West Lothian. The target areas are Knightsridge, Armadale and Addiewell / Stoneyburn. The project aims to reduce alcohol consumption by working along side a social marketing company to develop a social message for each area. The approach will work with the whole population with the aim of changing attitudes to alcohol, specifically from ‘abuse’ to enjoyment’ leading to a specific focus on reducing alcohol misuse/ use. By working in an integrated way at community level the project aims to create communities that support the limiting of supply and availability of alcohol while enabling individuals and families to change their drinking behaviours. The long-term outcome is to reduce average alcohol consumption and increase the age of onset of drinking. Ultimately attempting to change the culture associated with alcohol and reduce harmful levels of consumption among residents. There are three aspects to the approach being undertaken by the project: Communication; to identify a message in each area that resonates with residents of the communities. This will be done by commissioning a social marketing company to work alongside partners to identify ideas and messages on alcohol reduction. This will then inform both actions and marketing and promotional materials. The message will be well defined and identifiable by as many residents as possible. Marketing materials probably segmented by age and gender – will be produced to support message. It is anticipated that this is likely to be a combination of clearly stating when alcohol use becomes alcohol misuse, the immediate and longer term effects of alcohol misuse and what help is available locally and how it can be accessed. During the two year campaign there will be local focus groups every six months to review and refine the message. This will also provide an indication as to whether or not attitudes are changing. Networking: Any significant and sustainable change has to come from within the community, with a change in social acceptability of alcohol misuse. To ensure this becomes embedded the community have to form active partners in the process. Part of the initial community mapping and engagement activity will try and identify a number of key local residents to join or form a local steering group. A key part of the Project Co-ordinators role will be in supporting the creation of such groups. Reducing Supply: UK and international research indicates that the most effective initiatives are those that limit availability of and/ or access to alcohol. In the three areas this would include the enforcement of licensing laws including enforcing minimum legal purchase age, not serving intoxicated customers and limited opening hours. This approach appears to have had some success already in trials in West Lothian and elsewhere. The project will test and build community support for this approach through community profiling, initial events, surveys and engagement work recognising that without such support such measures could potentially be counter productive. Main partners in delivering and enforcing changes are the Police, Trading Standards and the Licensing Board. Reducing supply links to current initiatives including Challenge 21, Best Bar None and Test Purchasing. A project co-ordinator, alcohol reduction, will coordinate the project. They have been recruited and are based within Community Regeneration. The project will also link into the door knocking – employability and financial inclusion project running in the locality. Considerations In September ‘A Glass half full’ was held in Livingston to launch the project. The event aimed to bring together key stakeholders and professionals working in the target areas or those with a professional knowledge of alcohol misuse. During the event the group discussed previous marketing campaigns with similar aims. Previous campaigns were analysed to determine their effectiveness. In addition to discussing previous campaigns the group began looking at the approaches to be taken within the identified communities. Forty three partners from West Lothian Council, the voluntary sector and community organisations attended. Following the event a detailed report outlining the different approaches to be utilised in each of the three communities was produced. Appendix one contains the report. It has been agreed that in the Addiewell / Stoneyburn area the approach will begin by engaging with local school children. They will begin communication element of the project by the formation of a message for their community. Since the first event the project co-ordinator and the social marketing team have met with the Head teachers of Primary Schools in Addiewell and Stoneyburn. It has been agreed that they will work along side class teachers to engage with children from these communities. Two sessions have been set up within Our Lady’s Primary School in Stoneyburn. The first session will involve bringing fun activities into the classroom to generate discussions around the subject of alcohol use/misuse, the impact it has on them and their feeling toward it. The second follow up session will be held a week later, this is to give pupils the chance to go home and discuss the first session with their parents and siblings. The second session will focus on the beginning of the development of the “message”. This will involve using colour, pictures and words created by young people. Any messages discussed on the day will be taken away to begin the first stage of the campaign. All developments will be feedback to the school and pupils. These sessions will take place in the month of January. In addition to the above sessions the alcohol message being developed will be incorporate into a drama production. This will be showcased to parents, grandparents, siblings and local youth groups at the schools science fair on the 18th March. In addition to the drama teachers will also set up alcohol experiments and activities to enable parents to get involved on the night. This event will mark the launch of the student’s message in Stoneyburn. The project co-ordinator is awaiting contact from the other three schools in the area to set up similar arrangements. Along side contacting school the coordinator has been undertaken a survey in both areas to profile existing perceptions of alcohol misuse and the challenges within each area. The findings of the survey will be used to monitor the impact of the project. Alcohol Awareness Week (4th-11th Oct) As part of the campaign a number of events were held during alcohol awareness week. A team comprising of members from Community Regeneration undertook the following activities: Addiewell A stall was set up within the Pitstop in Addiewell for the week. The stall included information leaflets, unit cup measures, the national alcohol awareness quiz, and other key resources that were developed by NHS Lothian. The stall was managed by the staff at the Pitstop who engaged with residents that entered the Pitstop. Alcohol awareness week was also discussed with groups that used the Pitstop during the week. The team attended a finance course in the Addiewell early years centre on Monday 5th October. Attending the session enabled the team to engage with parents accessing services at the centre. Questionnaires were completed and a number of parents completed the national alcohol awareness quiz. Fauldhouse – Tuesday 6th October The team set up and manned a tent situated in the middle of Fauldhouse village green. Within the tent information leaflets, unit cup measures, the national alcohol awareness quiz and other key resources including beer goggles were displayed and utilised. Games were set up to demonstrate the dangers and impacts of alcohol on the body. The smoothie cycle was hired for the day to attract residents to the stall. Primary 7 children attended the stall. They were presented with information and also provided with the opportunity to use the smoothie cycle. Stoneyburn – Friday 9th October The team set up and manned a tent outside the community centre / GP practice in Stoneyburn. The location of the tent enabled the team to target residents accessing both services. Due to the early school finish the team were able to engage with parents and children together. Promotional material was discussed and presented to parents while the children engaged in activities designed to show the impact of alcohol. Alcohol awareness week enabled the team to target areas know for their high levels of alcohol misuse. In addition to targeting individuals it enabled the coordinator to begin engaging with residents on alcohol misuse within the community. E. CONCLUSION The alcohol prevention project will enable West Lothian Council to look at prevention of alcohol misuse in the three target areas. By working along side the community the preventative aspect will be generated by the community resulting in it being tailored to specific area need. In addition to looking at preventative measures the campaign will also complement existing provision by drug and alcohol services in the area.