Croydon Council wants to hear from residents about banning street drinking from every park and open space in the borough — but no ban has been decided yet.
Cabinet members have approved a borough-wide consultation on introducing Public Space Protection Orders, known as PSPOs, across parks and open spaces. The proposed crackdown is aimed at street drinking and alcohol-related nuisance, alongside noise, harassment and intimidation.
The exact restrictions have not yet been decided, which means the proposals do not currently amount to a blanket ban on anyone drinking alcohol in Croydon’s parks. What the consultation will decide is which activities, if any, should be restricted, and where.
What a PSPO actually does
A PSPO allows a council to prohibit specified activities, or require people to take certain actions, within a defined public area where persistent behaviour is having a detrimental effect on the local community. Breaching one is a criminal offence, which can be dealt with through a fixed penalty notice or prosecution. Only people aged over 18 can receive a fixed penalty notice.
Croydon already has PSPOs covering the town centre and Thornton Heath, including a number of parks and open spaces in those areas. But parks and open spaces elsewhere in the borough are not currently subject to the same restrictions, and the council says that limits the powers available to police to tackle anti-social behaviour, including alcohol-related nuisance, in other parks.
The council points to the existing orders as evidence the approach works. Reported anti-social behaviour fell by 24 per cent in the town centre PSPO area between November 2022 and November 2025. A 3.4 per cent reduction was also recorded in the Thornton Heath PSPO area, with the council saying there had been no measurable displacement of problems into surrounding areas.
Why the council is acting now
The council said residents and community groups had raised concerns about anti-social behaviour, particularly street drinking and noise nuisance, during consultation on its Community Safety Strategy for 2026 to 2029. It said the problems were affecting local communities, public confidence and perceptions of safety.
In his introduction to the Cabinet report, Executive Mayor Jason Perry said: “Every Croydon resident should be able to enjoy their local park or visit their high street without facing intimidation, harassment or persistent anti-social behaviour.”
“Our zero-tolerance approach must apply across the borough, not only in areas already covered by additional enforcement powers.”
Mr Perry wrote that the additional powers could help tackle “street drinking, noise nuisance, harassment and intimidation” and make public spaces safer for women and girls.
He added: “Vulnerability should never be criminalised, but vulnerability cannot be used as an excuse for behaviour that harms others.
“Zero tolerance means using every reasonable power available to protect law-abiding residents.”
High streets included too
The consultation will also consider introducing PSPOs in district centre high streets in Crystal Palace, Norbury, Addiscombe, Purley, Coulsdon, Selsdon, New Addington and South Norwood.
The council said enforcement would remain proportionate and would be carried out alongside work with police, youth outreach teams and services supporting people affected by homelessness, substance misuse and poor mental health.
Other London boroughs are weighing similar measures. In Sutton, the council is consulting on a draft order that could ban dogs from parts of Overton Park, showing how PSPOs are increasingly being used to settle competing uses of shared public space.
What happens next
Cabinet approved the consultation on 14 October, with the decision becoming effective on 23 October. The PSPOs themselves have not yet been introduced.
Responses to the consultation will be analysed before the proposals return to Cabinet in early 2027 for a final decision on whether the new orders should be implemented. Until then, drinking alcohol in Croydon’s parks remains legal — the consultation is about whether that should change, and in what form.
Residents in South Norwood, one of the areas covered by the proposals, have already been fighting their own planning battles this week, after residents opposed a fifth attempt to add eight flats at Collette Court.
