ePetition details

Anti social behaviour at Rose Garden, London Road

We the undersigned petition the council to Prohibit the drinking of alcohol at the public open space, the Rose Garden, at the junction of Great Western Road and London Road

This public open space has been a haven for street drinkers for a number of years. A number of the people who congregate there are often abusive and foul mouthed towards residents and passers by, and engage in behaviour that can be disturbing and upsetting, such as heavy drinking, fighting amongst themselves, urinating in public, lying across the pavement and wandering into the road in a state of intoxication.

As well as the inconvenience, and worse, suffered by residents, this is a terrible advertisement for Gloucester in general and Kingsholm in particular.

Temporary alcohol bans have been effective in containing the problem.in the past. We believe that a permanent ban will be the most effective way of dealing with the problem and is urgently needed.

On reaching 9 signatures An officer will investigate the matter further

This ePetition ran from 22/04/2017 to 06/06/2017 and has now finished.

35 people signed this ePetition.

Council response

This petition requests a temporary alcohol ban be put in place at the rose garden. Unfortunately there is no such power as a temporary alcohol ban for us to be able to implement, but as you may already be aware the current Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) which is in place for the City Centre, does cover the rose garden on London Road.

This DPPO is not a “drink banning order” but does allow an authorised officer to remove alcohol from an individual if they are causing a nuisance. This means that someone may drink alcohol in the area, but will be dealt with as breaching the Order only if they cause nuisance.

Government guidance on DPPOs states:
“…it is not appropriate to challenge an individual consuming alcohol where that individual is not causing a problem. Bodies responsible for introducing and enforcing DPPOs must keep in mind… that this power is to be used explicitly for addressing nuisance associated with the consumption of alcohol in a public place. It is important to note that these powers do not make it a criminal offence to consume alcohol within a designated area. An offence is committed if the individual refuses to comply with a constable’s request to refrain from drinking. Those enforcing these powers must take care that they do not state (either verbally or via signage) that the consumption of alcohol in a designated area, in itself, constitutes a criminal offence.”

Project Solace, our anti-social behaviour team, have a live case concerning the issues that this petition covers, and have been in contact with submitter as part of the investigations. The case officer and other colleagues at the Council have been visiting the rose garden regularly, along with Police Officers and PCSOs. Although on occasion people have been witnessed sat in the rose garden and sometimes drinking, to date these visits have not resulted in anti-social behaviour (ASB) being witnessed.


In addition to investigating and attempting to witness any nuisance, colleagues from the Council have engaged with staff at Newton House which is located opposite the rose garden, and have approached residents around the rose garden to work with them holistically to see whether there might be opportunities for any resident-led action or initiatives to make better use of the public space there.

The last correspondence that Project Solace received regarding this issue was in December. Reports state that nuisance and ASB in relation to people drinking in the garden are weather-dependent so occur more in the summer. For this reason, Project Solace’s case has remained open for monitoring and this is why officers have been paying attention to the issue, despite no complaints being received from residents. Residents have advised Solace previously that “drinkers are regularly in the garden, but bad behaviour doesn’t happen all the time”.

We encourage you and your neighbours to report any related anti-social behaviour to Solace on 01452 396396 or asb@gloucester.gov.uk so that we can address this reactively as well as proactively. Incidents can also be reported to the Police via 101 (or 999 in an emergency). It will not always be possible to deploy a Police Officer to attend, but the evidence that residents share with us is invaluable, helping us to direct resources and take action. Statements and evidence such as photographs can be used to help us identify individuals who may be causing nuisance. Where individuals can be identified and if they should cause persistent nuisance, Project Solace can consider the use of enforcement action. In such a case, we would ask that residents provide us with statements to support this.

Finally, it is worth noting that whilst the current DPPO does cover the rose garden and continues to do so until changes are made, a review of all DPPOs and other similar Orders across the City will shortly be taking place, in line with our duties under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. This sees DPPOs