INTOXICATED yobs making people’s lives a misery in central Bradford will soon face new £100 fines or alcohol confiscations.

City-centre businesses have long complained that street-drinkers and people taking so-called legal highs are putting people off visiting the city.

Yesterday, a council committee agreed to create a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), which bans people from drinking alcohol or using other intoxicating substances in public areas within the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods.

The only exceptions are alcohol consumed in licensed premises, tobacco or valid medicines.

The regulatory and appeals committee agreed to go ahead with the order, after hearing that it had received a lot of support during a public consultation.

It will come into force on December 1.

Rebecca Trueman, community safety co-ordinator, told the committee that 84 per cent of people responding to the consultation had backed the move, with just 9 per cent opposing it.

She said: “People were quite supportive of the making of the PSPO.”

She said they had studied the effects of a similar order which had been put in place by the local authority in Lincoln.

But Ms Trueman said the biggest impact had not been as a result of people being given the fixed penalty notices.

She said: “It was actually the seizure of alcohol, so for us that is the biggest thing really - the ability for us to seize alcohol.”

Committee member Councillor Russell Brown (Con, Worth Valley) asked whether people would still be allowed to carry unopened alcohol through the city centre and was told this would be fine.

Councillor Alun Griffiths (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) asked whether big street parties, like the one held each year in North Parade, would be affected.

But officers said the event licence would allow for the drinking of alcohol.

Councillor Gerry Barker (Con, Wharfedale) asked how the new rules would be enforced.

He said: “As a retired police officer, I am very aware of the constraints placed on the police and their workload.”

The meeting heard police officers, police community support officers and the council’s anti-social behaviour officers would all be able to enforce the rules.

The meeting also heard that the new powers would only be used alongside support for vulnerable people, and that fixed penalties could be waived if people agreed to take part in substance misuse programmes.

The original plans had covered the city centre, but the meeting heard that there had been concerns from nearby residents that the problem would be pushed into their areas.

So it has been extended to include Bradford College’s Trinity Green campus, Dixon’s Trinity Academy, in Trinity Road, and other streets such as Rand Street, Rand Place and Alexandra Street and St Luke’s Hospital.