SO York’s binge drinking rates are higher than the national average, according to new statistics. But how much of that is driven by the city being a magnet for hen and stag parties?

The council reckons that the new figures provide an excellent opportunity to understand more about what needs to be done in which specific areas of alcohol awareness, according to Cllr Lindsey Cunningham-Cross, the cabinet member for health and community engagement.

But frankly, how many more opportunities does the council need to address York being a no-go area on Friday and Saturday nights for anyone but those staggering about in stilettos wearing bridal L plates or lads fuelled up on Jagerbombs?

Back in 2005 an official report considered by city councillors of the day said that 18,000 women and 30,000 men in York were consuming more than the recommended daily allowance. Of that number 7,700 women and 16,500 men were estimated to regularly binge drink – that is, consuming twice the recommended daily allowance in one session.

In the same year a designated zone was introduced in the infamous Micklegate run area to monitor the number of licensed premises in the city in a bid to cut alcohol related violence, crime and disorder.

The zone gave police and licensing officials extra powers to oppose applications for new licensed premises and extensions to opening hours within its boundaries and crucially, allowed police to confiscate alcohol in a public place from anyone deemed to be acting anti-socially through drink.

Two years later, back in 2007, the council was said to be considering a curb on hen and stag parties to shift the city’s multi-million pound night-time economy away from an over reliance on pub culture because of on-going drink-fuelled crime and disorder.

In 2010 there were calls for the area of the alcohol-free zone to be increased in an attempt to curb booze related disorder in other parts of the city, and by two years later there were 20 such zones in the city.

And still the problems continued. In 2012 the Safer York Partnership called for the whole city up within the outer ring road boundary to be made an alcohol free zone, because the introduction of zones in various areas of the city had just pushed drink fuelled problems to other neighbourhoods.

A quick internet trawl through newspaper archives has shown that the evidence is clear - this is a situation that’s been going on for years. And here we now are in 2014, still churning out the same-old, same-old and hand-wringingly saying that something must be done to free up the city from its alcohol-fuelled night time stranglehold.

Maybe one solution would be to review the number of licensed premises there are in York. According to records (thanks to the internet again) a Freedom of Information request to the council showed that at the beginning of last year there were 762 licensed premises in the city.

And not just pubs and bars either – the list also included guest houses, hotels, cafes, stores and corner shops, newsagents, museums, theatres, snooker clubs, charities, colleges, garden centres, masonic halls, caravan parks, cinemas, care homes, York Central Library, York Minster and Bishopthorpe Palace – and even a hairdressers.

No surprises on many of them, then. But in theory does that mean that even if you’ve had your booze bottle confiscated by the police because you’ve been weaving about in the alcohol free zone you can pop in to your hairdresser for a top-up?

Clearly this is somewhat facetious but the list shows how, if you’re determined enough, you can get booze from pretty much wherever you like. Refused admission to a city centre pub or club? No problem.

For alcohol is pretty much on tap wherever you choose to stagger, whether you’re on a hen weekend or not. And surely, no amount of alcohol free zones and powers to confiscate is going to stop the problem is going to make a difference if the number – and type – of licensed premises isn’t addressed too. The last few years have shown that.