BLACKPOOL Council is calling last orders on street drinking before next summer's holiday season.

New bye-laws banning alcohol consumption outdoors will come before the full council on December 17, paving the way for Home Office approval by next March or April.

Proposed areas for the ban include:

the town centre, beach, foreshore and car parks, plus holiday zones in South and North Shores;

Stanley Park and all other council parks and gardens - including Layton and Carleton cemeteries;

Grange Park and Mereside council estates;

Hounds Hill shopping centre;

the Sandcastle forecourt and car park;

South Shore central corridor, North Shore boating pool and Harrowside Solarium.

Outdoor tables attached to a pub or club during licensing hours will not be affected.

Councillor Monty Sidford, whose Grange Park ward originated the idea, said: "Our prime concern on the estate was to give the police more power over the drinking problems we have in certain areas of Grange Park.

"But because I'm on the tourism and leisure committee and have had some involvement with the hotel trade, I've seen these lads and girls in the town centre with bottles and glasses terrorising people, especially the elderly, and I would have preferred a ban throughout the resort.

"Nevertheless, I think we've got the best deal we could have done and it should also help deal with problem drinkers congregating outside St John's Church and the Salvation Army HQ."

Councillor Norman Hardy, chair of the environmental health committee which drew up the proposals, said: "I certainly think it will improve the image of Blackpool, but we'll still need the co-operation of licensees and off-licences to tackle other problems like under-age drinking."

The council consulted other areas for tips, such as Glasgow, Coventry and southern resorts where outdoor alcohol bans have been in force some time, and found they had been a success.

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