The entire borough could be subject to a new legal order which will give the council and police greater powers to curb anti-social behaviour in public places.

The proposed Public Space Protection Order, PSPO, will prohibit street drinking and alcohol related anti-social behaviour and nuisance.

The proposed PSPO would not ban the consumption of alcohol in a public place, but the offence would be failing to comply with an officer’s request to stop the consumption of alcohol or failing to surrender containers when requested to do so. Authorised officers could only request that alcohol consumption cease on the grounds that anti-social behaviour is or is likely to occur.

The order will give council officers and Thames Valley Police officers the right to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £100 or take rule-breakers to court where fines of up to £1,000 could be handed out for repeated or serious breaches.

A previous group gathering PSPO in Chalvey was in place for three years but ended in December 2020.

A 28-day consultation is live from today (Monday 15 January) for the proposal to cover the whole borough.

The proposed order will prohibit the following activities:

• the consumption of alcohol or being in possession of an open container that is reasonably believed to contain alcohol. This provision does not apply to alcohol being consumed within premises licenced under the Licensing Act 2003 or s115E of the Highways Act 1980
• refusing to stop drinking alcohol or hand over any containers (sealed or unsealed) which are believed to contain alcohol, when required to do so by a police officer or authorised officer.

Once the consultation period is over, the council will look at feedback and if there are any serious concerns from residents, can take those into consideration.

Approval will then be sought from Cabinet later this year for the order to be actioned.

The council has been working closely with Thames Valley Police who will be the main authority to enforce the order.

Councillor Iftakhar Ahmed, lead member for community cohesion, planning, public health, public protection and leisure, said: “The previous order was in place to make it easier to target anti-social behaviour in certain locations.

“However, expanding it to cover the whole borough will make it simpler and easier to enforce and for people to understand.

“It will be part of a toolkit to tackle lower-level behaviour that has a detrimental effect on the quality of life of residents.”

Residents who want to participate are encouraged to:

• download a copy of the PSPO proposal and map 
• fill in and comment through an online survey 
• email comments to ReportASB@slough.gov.uk
• write to PSPO consultation, Community Safety team, Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough, SL1 2EL.

The survey is open from 15 January until 12 February.