Alcohol Control Zone given green light for the centre of Hatfield

Feedback from Community Safety Partnership’s partners (Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hatfield Town Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council) and from local residents and traders has prompted Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council to bring an Alcohol Control Zone into effect for the centre of Hatfield.

The area covers the centre of Hatfield and also includes Hatfield railway station, Salisbury Square and roads linking these areas to the town centre. All residents and businesses in the area have been consulted to ensure the zone covers all the places of main concern.

The Alcohol Control Zone will be brought into effect on 31 March 2008 by a “Designated Public Place Order” (DPPO), which was passed by the Borough Council on Thursday 28 February. A DPPO is designed to tackle nuisance arising from people acting anti-socially through drinking excessively in a public place. It is already an offence to be drunk and disorderly, and police already have powers to handle under-age drinkers. What a DPPO does is give any accredited officers (police, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council street wardens and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)) additional powers to stop people drinking straight away and confiscate their alcohol. Drinking in itself will not be an offence, only failure to comply with authorised officers’ instructions.  None of these powers apply within premises licensed for the sale of alcohol (in the case of the license for the street market the powers do apply from 30 minutes after the alcohol sale ceases), or within private homes and gardens in the area.

County Councillor Richard Smith, the Chair of the Welwyn Hatfield Community Safety Partnership, said: “Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hatfield Town Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, acting on their own data and also the suggestions of residents and shopkeepers, have located the Alcohol Control Zone in the area that is of main concern – the centre of Hatfield. We believe that the introduction of this zone will make a real difference and other areas raised during consultation will be looked at in the future once we have had the chance to assess the impact on the initial area.
 
“I would also like to emphasise that, once implemented, the centre of Hatfield will not become an alcohol-free zone. Drinking in itself will not be an offence, only failure to comply with authorised officers’ instructions.”

Central Area Commander, Chief Superintendent Alison Romme-Gifford added: "Our aim is to reduce crime and disorder and to make central Hatfield a safer and more attractive area for people of all ages to enjoy.
 
“Orders in other parts of the country have proven to be successful and some have reduced alcohol related crime and disorder by over 70 per cent.”

For more information, including a map of the area, please go to the Welwyn Hatfield Alliance's press release page.