Last orders for park drink pests

A long-awaited booze ban in public open spaces of a South Staffordshire village could be given the green light before the end of the month.

Cheslyn Hay Parish Council applied to South Staffordshire Council's regulatory committee last November for a ban to stop anyone drinking alcohol in public open spaces, including parks and the cemetery, to help crack down on anti-social behaviour and under-age drinking. Police in the village near Cannock would have powers to confiscate booze and issue fines on the spot.

But a decision to include an alleyway which passes under a rail line caused delays in the public consultation process, which pushed the final approval of the scheme back to this month's regulatory committee meeting.

Jamie Angus, for South Staffordshire Council, said: "The Community Safety team are still currently awaiting responses from some consultees, but we are hopeful that a report will be submitted to the committee on April 21."

The application submitted by the parish council was backed up by evidence from police.

In one month, officers in Cheslyn Hay seized 289 bottles and cans of alcohol and recorded 24 alcohol incidents and 130 anti-social behaviour incidents linked to booze between January and November 2007.

The parish council chairman, Bob Denson, said: "We are looking forward to being able to implement the ban because it gives the police powers to stop under-age drinking, in fact, nuisance drinking of people of all ages, across the open spaces in Cheslyn Hay.

"We have had problems in the past with big parties at the park in the summer. We have got a youth worker from Staffordshire County Council and a police community youth support officer working with the youths in the area to help get rid of this problem."