Booze ban is working
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
21/10/2008
The borough wide ban on antisocial street boozers has left aggressive drunks high and dry.
A council probe shows there are 71 per cent fewer street drinkers on the borough’s streets compared to two years.
A snap-shot survey last month showed 32 drunken vagrants on Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) streets. A similar probe in August 2006 showed 107 persistent open air drunks intimidating residents.
H&F Council introduced a blanket ban on anti-social street boozers in November 2006. The controlled drinking area (CDA) means anti-social street drinkers who refuse to hand over their booze face a £500 fine and a night in the cells.
The tough measures to squeeze out nuisance drinkers give Police and some council officers - like parks constables - discretionary powers to confiscate booze and pour it down the drain. Groups of drunks, who congregate on benches and in parks to hurl abuse at passers-by, have been particularly targeted.
Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour, says, “By enforcing the borough-wide controlled drinking area rigidly we are driving down the number of aggressive street drinkers every year.”
In 2007 a similar report showed 40 street drinkers in H&F meaning the CDA has generated falls in street drinking for two years running.
Cllr Smith added, “We are busting the street boozers who intimidate law abiding residents with their drunken abuse. Rowdy street drinkers are being forced to sober up and these results prove that our tough enforcement action is reaping dividends.”
H&F is one of only three council areas in London to have a borough wide CDA.
