AN 11-year ban on drinking alcohol on the streets of a busy seaside resort has ended – without councillors and local police even realising! Looe Town Council was only told by Sector Inspector John Turner on Monday that the alcohol- free zone in the town that has been there since August 1995 no longer applied – a month after the by-law governing it had expired. And local police claim that they only discovered the lapse on the same day. Ann Frith, Looe town clerk, said: 'There is a lot of concern within the council that we no longer have a by-law in place which means that the police can stop people drinking. 'We would like this sorted out as soon as possible so we have a ban in place for next summer.' Looe originally applied for the ban under the 1972 Local Government Act which was then replaced in 2001 by the Criminal and Justice Police Act. This act stated that any previous local by-laws would run out after five years and meant Looe's alcohol-free zone became defunct on September 1. 'We were a bit surprised,' said Mrs Frith. 'We only found out about this on Monday, which is a little bit bad on behalf of the police, but we are not going down the line of blaming anyone. We just want this sorted out.' A spokesman for Looe police said they only became aware of the issue on Monday but could not say how they found out. He said no-one had been stopped under the by-law during September but added: 'We have dealt with drinking issues, but we have other powers. we can stop people for disorder offences or juvenile drinking.' Looe will now have to re-apply for an alcohol free zone under different legislation and go through the same process as their neighbouring town Liskeard, which is currently trying to bring in a ban. The police spokesman said officers were not concerned about the lack of a ban in the short- term.
