Nottinghamshire PCCs At The Forefront Of New Approach To Drinking On The Street

Nottinghamshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping has teamed up with other Police and Crime Commissioners from across the UK to help mastermind new national guidance on tackling the issues of street drinking.

Mr Tipping heads up the project which involves PCCs from Cheshire, Dorset, Devon & Cornwall, Cambridgeshire, Humberside, Sussex and West Mercia, and puts forward tough measures to deal with street drinkers who are most resistant to treatment or help.

The guidance, written by Alcohol Concern's senior consultant Mike Ward with input from key national bodies and PCC representatives, was unveiled at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners' annual conference earlier today (November 17th).

Research estimates that "change resistant" street drinkers cost individual local authority areas anywhere between £300,000 and £4m per year.

Mr Tipping, who delivered a presentation on the new guidance during the conference, said: "This work highlights the serious drain on resources just a small number of street drinkers can have on public services. It offers PCCs and support agencies positive strategies for reducing the burden on blue-light organisations. Instead of new investment or resource-intensive intervention, these strategies rely heavily on effective partnership working and show that the management of this problem can be achieved anywhere with the right framework.”

"Confronting street drinking will also open the gateway to tackling a range of serious issues associated with chronic street drinkers from domestic violence and exploitation to mental health problems. PCCs are ideally placed to make a positive impact on this problem by refocusing existing efforts for better results."

The new guidance suggests there could be as many as 15-25 street drinkers in a small local authority area while this figure could rise to 50-90 in larger areas. In very large urban areas, the number could be in excess of 200.

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