COUNCILLORS have described a report which places Bournemouth as the 20th worst local authority in the country for the number of dependent drinkers as “shocking”.

The report was considered by members of Bournemouth council’s health and adult social care overview and scrutiny panel on Tuesday

An estimated 3,000 people are identified in the report as being dependent drinkers, the 20th highest out of 155 local authorities.

Cllr Michael Weinhonig said: “I find this a shocking report and really difficult to read and would like for us to take some action from it.

“There’s a lot of value in that report, if we could integrate our night-time economy into our work then I would like to take that away as something to take action on.

Panel chairman, Cllr David d’Orton-Gibson, said: “People do not realise the irreversible damage of this.

“We want people to go out an have a good time but you do not need to end up laying in a gutter to have a good time.

“I think it’s something which needs a serious review.

“The budget is not infinitely expandable and we need to work on prevention.”

The report says that funding cuts are partially to blame for the high rate of alcohol dependency with budgets for work to tackle substance abuse cut by up to 50 per cent.

Councillors agreed that more focus needed to be put on preventative work across the borough to tackle the issue.