Whitehall scotch Nottingham's plans for UK's first city-wide drinking ban

Nottingham wanted to be the first city in England and Wales to have a total ban on street drinking. But cent5ral government have warned that such a move would be illegal.

 There are already three zones in Nottingham with bans in place but officials said a wider restriction would be more effective at curbing problem behaviour. They emphasised the powers would be discretionary and "reasonable" consumption would be allowed.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, which comes into force next year, allows councils to introduce drinking bans without having to get approval from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

However a spokesman for the Department for Communities & Local Government insisted that the city-wide ban would not be possible and the council would have to pursue other means.

“Government legislation has already given councils, and the police, a range of powers to control drinking behaviour in their communities and it is taking steps to strengthen them further,” he said. “As such councils would not need to, or be able, to pursue a byelaw in this instance as they are specifically for local issues not covered by national legislation.”

Read the rest of this item from the Local Government Chronicle here

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