I am writing to seek your approval, following the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, for the Council, which has the power, to make an order prohibiting the consumption of alcohol within a certain designated public area. It is believed that part of the Colville and Golborne Area would benefit from the making of such an order. I ask you to decide in principle whether such an order should be made for the area outlined as in the attached Appendix B and if so to authorise the consultation process required before consideration can be given to making such an order. After consultation with Ward Councillors it was agreed that a data collection initiative would start during November 2005 and end in January 2006 and would compliment Police initiatives held during the whole of 2005. The initiative was used to gather evidence of the activities of a large group of street drinkers who regularly behave anti-socially in and around the Wards and particularly along the area under the Westway for the whole width of the Borough. The Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 creates an offence of drinking alcohol in a street within a designated area only if a person is asked not to do so by a Police Constable and fails to do so after such a request. It is not therefore an automatic offence to drink alcohol in a designated area.

The legislation allows Police to prevent such drinking providing the behaviour is exhibited in the designated control zone and the person drinking refuses to desist when asked by a Constable. This power is only given to Police to exercise but the Local Authority arranges for consultation, the identification of the zone, the posting of signs and the announcement in the media that such an order is proposed and the commencement date. The Police are influential in identifying the nature of the problem and the area to be designated. The power is discretionary.

Section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 (“the Act”) allows local authorities to make orders designating public areas where drinking of alcohol is prohibited. The Council must be satisfied that the area proposed to be covered by the Order is associated with nuisance as a result of the drinking of alcohol in that place.

Council officers made observations during the period November 2005 to January 2006 regarding the number of street drinkers and there were on average 10 street drinkers each day in the area, concentrated below the elevated section of the A.40(M) trunk road. These groups are local inhabitants who are thought to be unemployed and believed to be suffering from alcoholism. Whilst the numbers fluctuate seasonally (up to 20) it is noted that they gather near warm air vents in the very cold weather and in open spaces such as Meanwhile Gardens and Maxilla Walk in the warmer weather.

Both Police and Council Officers are in agreement that on-street drinking is the cause of many problems and has been detrimental to the street scene in Colville and Golborne. It also places the local community in fear of crime and the elderly and infirmed cannot pass along the highway near these gatherings. Because of the numbers of street drinkers the public feel threatened. The highway, in the vicinity is often left dirty and polluted with the result of increased costs in clear up and maintenance incurred by this Authority and the private Landowners.

If the Committee resolves in principle to make an order to cover the proposed designated area, the Council is required to carry out consultation with various bodies and persons under the regulations before consideration can be given as to whether such an order should be made. The results of the consultation will allow the Council to consider the views of the local community, including businesses and licencees and take those views into account when considering whether or not to make an order. The Act allows for Police to exercise their powers in a discretionary way and therefore should the circumstances not require action they do not have a statutory duty to use it. This will allow the Police to challenge offenders, seize alcohol containers or effect arrests, as they consider appropriate.

The nature of this problem is similar to that which existed in Earls Court. That control zone has been an overwhelming success. In Colville and Golborne there are about 20 persons who congregate usually having purchased alcohol from the local supermarkets and off-licences. This gathering and the associated behaviour is intimidating and anti-social.

The Act is specific in only permitting orders to be made covering public places, within the area of a local authority and which are identified by the local authority as being places where nuisance or annoyance to members of the public or disorder has been associated with the consumption of intoxicating liquor in that place.

Once an order has been made, and has come into force, any person consuming alcohol in a public place within the designated area can be instructed by a Constable not to consume that alcohol and if requested, to surrender that alcohol to the Constable (other than that in a sealed container). It is not an automatic offence to drink in the area designated by any order.

Failure to comply with the Constable's requirements leaves the offender liable to prosecution with a maximum fine of £500; the offence also carries the power of arrest. It should be noted that Council Officers have no power to act or enforce orders made under this legislation. However it is expected that Enforcement personnel will locate and assist the Police should this be required. The deployment of Police Community Support Officers will also assist in the Policing of this behaviour.

It should be noted that Section 14 of the Act excludes certain areas from being part of a designated public place and therefore cannot be protected by the Order. These include licensed premises and any area falling within the curtilage of licensed premises, such as properly licensed tables and chairs on the highway and forecourts. It also includes any places having a `temporary event licence' under the new Licensing Act of 2003.

The proposed public area to be covered by the order is shown as the shaded area on the attached map at Appendix B. It covers the area adjoined by a number of different roads as listed in Appendix C for those areas where the behaviour has been seen. This area has been identified following officer's observations and information from the Police highlighting the trouble spots and incorporating them in their attached report and intelligence data as shown at Appendix A. This has indicated about 250 incidents of anti-social behaviour at sixteen locations of which 89 are at Tavistock Road/Green areas and 102 at Acklam Road/Portobello Green. It is the belief of both the Council and Police Officers that there is a drink related problem in the areas identified in the map of Appendix B and which are bounded by the roads stated in Appendix C.

Additionally it is anticipated that there will be strong displacement of the offenders who will gather in suitable areas in the remaining parts of Colville and Golborne Wards particularly where there are other parks and open spaces, a church, mosque and Canal towpath. It is very possible that displacement of their activities will also take place to St. Charles, Notting Barns and Norland as well as Pembridge Wards where there are similar recreational and garden spaces.

It is important to emphasise that the Act requires the Council to be satisfied that nuisance or annoyance already exists in the areas to be designated, which are associated with the consumption of alcohol. Therefore, even if Officers anticipate there may be areas where displacement may take place, these areas cannot be included in any order until the Council is satisfied that a problem exists.

Further evidence from the Metropolitan Police Service has indicated a substantial number of incidents relating to drunkenness, drink related violence and anti-social behaviour normally associated with `binge drinking' or alcohol consumption on the street within Golborne and Colville Wards.

There are 803 incidents during the May to October period in the above categories. These are too numerous to place on a map to show spread and location. However an inspection of the calls shows that most roads within the two Wards have some kind of drink related incident occurring in it. That Saturdays and Mondays are the busiest for Police calls and that from 5pm the call intensity increases peaking at 9pm. There are 4.5 calls to a road in the two Wards per day on average. By categories there have been, within the 6 month period, 295 disturbance in a public place calls, 104 community problem calls, 218 calls relating to fighting or violence 79 calls for drunkenness and 94 collapses or illnesses in the street, all within the two Wards. This analysis has ignored the crime, which is brought about by anti-social behaviour such as burglary, criminal damage and assaults. The analysis however ignores the levels of Police calls in neighbouring Wards. The charts reflecting the above figures are set out in Appendix E.

The regulations made under the Act, specify that certain persons must be consulted prior to the making of an Order. The Chief Officer of Police for the area must be consulted on the proposal and in the case of a boundary order all the local Chief Superintendents of those Boroughs. These senior Metropolitan Police Officers will be consulted in consequence to the area being identified that is to be controlled.

The licencee of any licensed premises within the area of the ban or whose premises may be affected by the proposed designation must be consulted. Again this cannot be commenced unless the Committee is resolved in principle to make such an order and until the proposed designated area has been identified.

The legislation also requires the Council to take "reasonable steps" to consult with "owners" and "occupiers" of any land within the proposed designated area before an Order can be made. This applies principally to the Westway Development Trust (WDT) who has already been consulted and is in full agreement to the proposals as the offenders have caused them substantial nuisance and damage. They own the area below the elevated section of the Westway, which is seen as the main gathering point. This requirement is not considered to apply to much land other than WDT property because according to Council records, the area does not appear to include any privately owned land. In any event, if any land were privately owned then these would only form a very small part of the overall area. In this respect, the Home Office guidance on this requirement states: “There may well be occasions when it is impossible to identify or find owners of particular land or property, so Regulation 3(2) does not place an absolute requirement on local authorities in this instance. It requires local authorities to take all reasonable steps to consult land owners”. It is intended to visit many premises in the area to gather their views which can later be considered as to whether or not to make such an order. In addition, before the order can be made, a notice will be displayed in the local press inviting representations, which will give any such persons another opportunity to comment on the proposals.

Officers believe an Order covering the area proposed will be a useful tool in improving the street scene within the Colville and Portobello area and are supportive of its introduction. There will be a visible impact on the area by the erection of signs detailing the order. Officers believe the visual damage created by additional “clutter” is outweighed by the possible improvements from such a ban. There are no personnel issues raised. The legal issues are raised in the above paragraphs.

There are no Race Equality Implications. Subject to the agreement in principle, the Legal Department will be consulted in regard to the next steps, the public consultation process, advertising and signage issues.

Councillor Paget-Brown has been consulted and makes the recommendation that the Street Drinking Order should be confined to those areas where the current activities have been observed.

The Community Safety Programme Board has discussed the main issues within this report and have recommended that, by reason of the anti-social behaviour evidenced during May to October 2005, the second option be adopted which is that of the Wards of Colville and Golborne and include that under the A40 Westway to the Borough boundary.

The Committee is recommend to agree in principle to making a street drinking order for the area hatched in black on the map shown at Appendix B. Appendix B is bounded by the roads as listed in Appendix C.

Or the Committee is recommended to agree the area of Colville and Golborne Wards

The Committee is further recommended to delegate the power to the Director of Waste Management and Leisure to consider the results of the consultation process and to determine whether a street drinking order should be made for the areas defined by the Committee and should any objections be received then this matter is referred back to this Committee for consideration.

If the Director of Waste Management and Leisure decides to make an Order under his delegated powers as stated in Paragraph 9.5 above, he shall carry out all of the statutory requirements including the erection of signs throughout the designated area.