A prospective police commissioner has welcomed powers that are aimed to help tackle alcohol-fuelled violence.
From October, councils will be handed the authority to restrict the sale of alcohol between midnight and 6am and also introduce late-night levies.
Figures released earlier in the year showed that 42 per cent of all violent crime committed between April 2011 to April 2012 was alcohol related.
Earlier in the year, councillors were told that the ‘late-night levy’ – a charge for premises selling alcohol open between midnight and 6am – could bring in £164,511 from 178 businesses in Northampton.
Of that money, £111,480 would go to the police and £47,790 to the council; while £5,340 would be deducted for ‘administration’.
Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner candidate Adam Simmonds said: “As I campaign across Northamptonshire so many local people raise with me their concerns about antisocial behaviour in their neighbourhoods.
“Often alcohol plays a part in trouble and disturbances on a Friday and Saturday night and it’s local people, and local police officers, who bear the brunt of it.
“New figures show that seven per cent of local people have personally experienced or witnessed drink related antisocial behaviour in the last 12 months.
These new measures will help local people tackle this blight.
“If elected as Northamptonshire’s first Police and Crime Commissioner in November, I will work with all local agencies to tackle antisocial behaviour and cut crime.”
