ACS has called for government, police, local authorities and the trade to work together to establish a clear framework to assess proposed local schemes targeted at preventing street drinking.
Speaking to the Conference hosted by the East of England Co-operative Society and Suffolk, a Constabulary on the Ipswich Reducing the Strength Initiative, ACS Public Affairs Director Shane Brennan said: "We are pleased that so many people from across the country are here to learn from the Ipswich experience. We commend the Ipswich partners for taking an approach that is evidence based, proceed as voluntary partnerships and are targeted at specific local problems. We believe that these elements are vital to any area that is considering taking local action on street drinking.
"We are however concerned about the rapid and uncoordinated proliferation of places that are implementing schemes like Ipswich. This inconsistency of implementation between areas creates a real barrier to industry support. We are asking for all the partners in this policy area to work together to agree a clear framework that helps us all to identify what are good schemes that need to be supported.
"There also remains significant legal uncertainty about the use of these schemes. We are calling on Ministers and the Office of Fair Trading to provide the necessary clarity needed to help retailers understand how and when they can support these schemes."
The Reducing The Strength Conference took place at Wherstead Park, Ipswich on Tuesday 4th March 2014.
