A NEWTON Abbot county councillor is championing a new anti-alcohol campaign – which he hopes could become a nationwide ­template – in an attempt to tackle mindless drinking in Devon.Cllr Gordon Hook believes pubs, off-licences and supermarkets need to take more responsibility for selling alcohol.He told the county council's policy review committee that the law needed changing so buyers paid at least a minimum price for booze – as in Scotland – which he believes will help combat binge drinking.'Statistics show that alcohol clearly has an impact and is destroying the social life in this country,' said Cllr Hook, who represents Newton Abbot South l From page 1on the county council.'On a Friday and Saturday night alcohol is the cause of most crimes. 'if you took it out of the equation the police, doctors and nurses would have a lot quieter time.'So many people are attacked, abused and feel threatened on the streets of Newton Abbot, Torquay or any major towns at the weekends and it's alcohol induced.'I like a drink of cider or a decent red wine, like a lot of people, but these days people don't know their limits.'He would like to see the county take a lead in the campaign, get Teignbridge Council on board and alter bylaws.'I want to see a law change so that district authorities, who are the licensing authority, have greater powers to review and remove licences from premises that are not acting responsibly, either through sales or selling to under-age youths. Powers do exist but are not used often enough,' said Cllr Hook.'I also want to see action in pubs and clubs where customers continue to be served well after limits have been reached and obviously exceeded. 'Reporting of offences would need to be carefully monitored by police, but the public should be encouraged to report landlords and managers who act irresponsibly,' he said, adding that he was concerned that cheap alcoholic drink promotions fuelled antisocial behaviour.'At the moment in some places you can buy lager cheaper than a glass of coke.'A vast amount of money is being spent to stop drug abuse, but the biggest drug of all is alcohol and nothing seems to be being done to combat it.'This campaign needs to happen but I know it will take time,' he said.Supt Jim Meakin, of Newton Abbot police, said he supported Cllr Hook's views on promotional drinking campaigns in pubs and supermarkets. He stressed the police were doing all they could to reduce alcohol-induced crime on the streets.'We've seen a reduction in antisocial behaviour. We do get disorder and people do get abusive at weekends because of alcohol, but it's no different from any other town and I have to stress it is not a huge problem.'We have looked at surveys conducted, and the public are fairly satisfied with our approach. We are working with the district council and licensees to develop policies to reduce low-level crime and antisocial behaviour.'Supt Meakin said: 'The public should be confident that we are working to address any concerns they have.'