Public drinking bans in areas of Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Cardigan could be scrapped, a report says.

Parts of the three town centres have restrictions on public drinking due to the introduction of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

The Orders came into force on 20 October 2017 for a period of three years initially.

Following a decision by Council to renew the Orders in the first instance in 2020, and again in 2023, the current PSPOs are in place until 19 October 2026.

The orders allow the banning of drinking alcohol in designated areas in order to address anti-social behaviour in public places.

Implementation of an order makes it an offence should a person fail to comply with a request from a police officer or an authorised officer to not consume alcohol, or refuses to surrender alcohol to the officer.

Offenders are liable to a summary conviction and a fine not exceeding £500.

The three PSPOs in Ceredigion originally had a three-year provision, and were due to expire in October 2020, but legislation allowed the council a three-year extension, where “it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that doing so is necessary to prevent an occurrence or recurrence of the activities identified in the order.”

A report for Cabinet members who approved the three-year extension back in 2023 said Dyfed-Powys Police, the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner and the three town councils (Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Cardigan), all supported the PSPOs continuing.

With just four months to run on the current PSPOs, a report set to put before Ceredigion County Council Cabinet members says that the council’s Community Safety Partnership recommends letting the PSPOs expire to review the orders and monitor whether they are working.

Members at a Community Safety Partnership meeting on 29 June “recorded the consensus view that the existing Public Spaces Protection Orders should be permitted to expire on 19 October 2026.”

Members further recommended that “relevant data, intelligence and partnership evidence should be monitored and reviewed over a 12-month period following expiry of the Orders.”

“Should monitoring identify a significant increase in street drinking or associated anti-social behaviour, there would remain the option to consider the introduction of new PSPOs,” the report said.

Members said that “the absence of a PSPO was not expected to have a significant impact on the ability of either the Police or the Council to address incidents of anti-social drinking within Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Cardigan.”

Cabinet members will be presented with three options at the meeting on Tuesday: Renewing the PSPOs or allowing the PSPOs to expire with or without a review.

The report said that continuing the PSPOs opens up criticism that the orders “constitute a disproportionate interference with individual freedoms if there is insufficient evidence of continuing harm”.

The report adds that the “current evidence base is insufficient to justify the continuation of the existing Public Spaces Protection Orders in Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Cardigan.”

Removing the PSPOs, could lead to an increase in street drinking or alcohol related anti-social behaviour, the report added.