A BAN on street drinking has been rolled out across swathes of Worcester – and offenders could be fined £1,000.

City councillors have decided to introduce new powers to stop people drinking alcohol in streets and other public places, from mid August.

Members of the Communities Committee voted on Wednesday night to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), banning the drinking of alcohol in certain zones and forcing offenders to surrender their booze.

The PSPO will apply to the whole of Worcester’s city centre and additional areas at Cranham Drive and Windermere Drive in Warndon, King George V playing fields, an area around Rose Avenue in Tolladine and the Blackpole Industrial Estate.

Anyone found in breach of the rules would be guilty of a criminal offence and could receive a fixed penalty notice of up to £70 or, if prosecuted via a magistrate’s court, could face a maximum fine of £1,000.

“It’s clear that street drinking causes significant disturbance to residents and puts huge pressure on police time and hospital resources,” says Cllr James Stanley, chair of the communities committee.

“Introducing this new order will give the council and police greater powers to intervene at an earlier stage and to take punitive action where appropriate.”

The move follows a public consultation in the spring, which received 430 responses.

Of those, 300 respondents described street drinking as a ‘big’ or ‘fairly big’ problem in Worcester and 316 said they would support the confiscation of alcohol within the ban zones.

Some councillors on the committee said more areas should be included in the PSPO.

Cllr Stephen Hodgson said: “I was expecting Warndon to be in the new scheme and I think the residents of Warndon will be disappointed that they won’t be included.”

Cllr Tracey Biggs had a problem with how the ban would be enforced, particularly with the homeless.

She said: “I understand that there is anti-social behaviour with these people but I just hope that we are more mindful of addiction.”