Order to tackle nuisance street drinking in Crawley extended for three years

The order, which covers the whole borough except for Gatwick Airport, was put in place in October 2020 with the aim of cracking down on street drinking.

The proposal to extend it will be put to a meeting of the full council on July 18.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday (June 28), Sue Mullins, cabinet member for community engagement & culture, said: “This is very much needed. We’ve had it for several years now and it’s worked really well.

“We were experiencing a massive problem, particularly in the Memorial Gardens and the town centre, with groups of people drinking.

“That’s dropped down really considerably over the last year and that’s because we’ve had a PSPO so we’ve been able to enforce the conditions that we wanted.”

While the problem of street drinking may have fallen, it has by no means disappeared.

Councillors were told that Langley Green in particular had been ‘identified as an area of concern’.

Leader Michael Jones said: “Although it’s a lot less frequent than in many previous years, there still remains an issue with street drinking in the town centre.

“I have recently seen some examples of people passed out in broad daylight in the town centre, which I was extremely unimpressed with.

“This requires further quick action and this PSPO gives us the means to provide that when it occurs.”

Anyone found breaching the PSPO can be given a £100 fixed penalty notice by a police officer, community support officer or authorised council officer.

If the notice is not paid within 14 days, the council has the right to prosecute.

Officers said: “Key locations that are currently affected include town centre particularly Queens Square and Memorial Gardens, Broadfield Barton, Langley Green Parade, Three Bridges Playing Field/Jubilee Field, and the path that links them together and Goffs Park.

"Having a borough wide PSPO (excluding Gatwick Airport) enables the police and council to address this behaviour wherever it arises in a robust manner.

“Since the PSPO was made in October 2020, authorised Council Officers have seized alcohol on 67 occasions and issued four FPNs for breach of PSPO.”