Booze-fuelled bad behaviour drops in York

City of York Council made the decision to remove the designated public place orders (DPPOs) at Cleveland Street, Clifton Moor Community Church, Glen Gardens, Poppleton Community Centre, Rawcliffe/Clifton Library, Rawcliffe Lake, Salisbury Terrace and Woodthorpe Green, after hearing how measures to tackle alcohol-related anti-social behaviour (ASB) had taken effect since they put in place in 2012.

Across the city, measures to tackle binge-drinking, the plethora of stag and hen parties and the associated ASB have seen a 36 per cent drop in reports of alcohol-related ASB from 2013/14-2016/17.

The move to re-assess all enforcement areas was prompted by a change in legislation, due next month, that will see DPPOs replaced by public space protection orders which give police and council officers discretionary powers to require people to stop drinking and to confiscate alcohol in designated public places.

The remaining enforcement orders, including those within the city walls and the railway station, will be updated to PSPOs.

Coun Sam Lisle, executive member for housing and safer neighbourhoods, said: “The council, together with the police, reviewed all the existing DPPOs. We’re not allowed to just had them in place in perpetuity - there has to be a reason for them - so with no incidents in three years the decision was made to remove them.

“One thing has to be clear, however, it does not mean that we don’t have an issue with drunken behaviour or anti-social behaviour, just that the measures we have in place have been working.”