Crackdown on street drinking

POLICE in Uckfield are hoping to tackle problems caused by people drinking in public places by imposing new legislation.

Senior officers have approached Uckfield Town Council to seek their views on the possible introduction of regulations which would give police discrectionary powers of arrest in specific areas of the town.

The police and town council look set to consult with Wealden District Council over the possible implementation the Local Authorities (Alcohol Consumption in Designated Public Places) Regulations 2001. If introduced, police would have powers of confiscation or even arrest in designated areas of the town.

However, council officers and police this week emphasised that the legislation was not a blanket ban on drinking in public.

A police spokesman said: 'From September 1 last year, new legislation under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 was introduced giving police power to stop people consuming alcohol in designated public places. Drinking in public is often linked to anti-social behaviour and in turn to criminal damage. This legislation has effectively identified a new offence.

However, the spokesman added: 'If two elderly ladies are having a glass of wine with a picnic on Luxford Field, we are obviously not going to go and take their drink off them. It is for when drinking in public leads to public order offences that this legislation will help. At the moment police are only empowered to confiscate alcohol from under-age drinkers in public places.