District council gives green light to alcohol ban in Biddulph town centre

by Jack Lenton

Staffordshire Moorlands District Council has agreed to move forward with an order which would see drinking alcohol banned in Biddulph town centre.

The council’s Community Overview & Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the ban on 1st February. It was agreed to move forward with the plans with the proposals to be put to consultation and brought back to the authority’s Cabinet for final approval, due to be made at a meeting on Tuesday  9 February.

The Public Spaces Protection Order will apply to Biddulph town centre, and prohibit consuming alcohol or carrying an unsealed container of alcohol in the town centre. It has been recommended for approval in an effort to combat anti-social behaviour in the town.

A Public Spaces Protection Order was already implemented in Biddulph in 2017, which empowered a constable or authorised person to require a person to stop drinking alcohol or confiscate their alcohol, but this order expired in November 2020.

Once the order receives the final approval by Cabinet it would last for a maximum of three years. The consumption of alcohol would still be permitted on licensed premises and clubs within the town centre, and areas within their curtilage. Anyone who refused to comply with the order would be committing an offence, which they could be fined for.

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