PROBLEMS of youths drinking on the streets of Tavistock may soon become a thing of the past after the town council voted in favour of an alcohol exclusion zone in the town centre. Approval will now be sought from West Devon Borough Council to implement the Designated Public Places Order which will give police the power to confiscate any alcohol being consumed or issue a £50 fixed penalty fine. It follows incidents of anti-social behaviour in the town, particularly in the Meadows where gangs of youths aged 18 to 25 were found drinking excessively, intimidating people and leaving litter. Such a move has been discussed several times over the past decade by the town council but this time the police had requested the ban. However, there were concerns from Tavistock town councillors at their meeting last week that there were not enough officers to enforce it. Cllr Mandy Govier said that at the moment police could not take alcohol away from people over the age of 18. They could be arrested if they were causing a public nuisance, but other than that officers had no powers. This new legislation would be a tremendous help to them. ?It is not the under-age drinking that is the problem, the police can do something about them ? it is the youths between the ages of 18 and 25 who are causing the problems in this town. The aim is to stop them drinking before they can get drunk and disorderly.? Cllr Jane Ramsey said one third of crime was alcohol-related and the town council should be responsible enough to realise that and support the police in what they were trying to do. She said thanks to the police, the little boys, who had been intimidated by youths drinking in the skatepark shelter, were now starting coming back to the skatepark: ?I have spent a lot of time in the park and seen the PCSOs moving people on from the shelter,? she said. Councillors were told the cost of implementing the alcohol control area was in the region of £2,000 and this should be met by the borough council, but the authority had no funds to do it. Cllr Govier suggested the town council should find other ways of getting the money, possibly putting a bid in to the crime and disorder reduction partnership. The money would pay for advertising and signage and there were no ongoing costs. Cllr Philip Sanders said he expected the signs to be vandalised so there could be ongoing costs. He said: ?There is currently a complete inability to police the town. Crowds of under age drinkers are shouting and breaking glass and it is crystal clear to me walking around this town that the police would not be able to enforce an alcohol ban.? The fact that PCSOs, of which there would be four based in Tavistock by the end of the year, only worked until 10pm was also a concern for councillors who thought there could be problems after the pubs closed. Cllr Best told the meeting that police had special funding to deal with an alcohol control area in Tavistock. PC John Cockayne, of West Devon Police, said officers had been pushing for an alcohol control area in Tavistock for some time and were pleased it had moved on to the next stage. He said: ?Drinking in public places causes a nuisance and an annoyance to members of the public and can be intimidating as well. ?Officers, including PCSOs, will be able to issue fixed penalty fines to people if they do not comply with our requests to stop drinking.?
