Jump to content

Recommended Posts

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> swung by the Great Exhibition on

> the way back from nursery for an apple juice and a

> packet of crisps (for the kids) and a pint (for

> me). Starting to feel like a rather bad parent.


Sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Robbin


I have no such staunch view on the subject. I don't see it as a crime. Local authorities see it as a crime.


like I said.


"Yes it would be nice to have a picnic in the park with a bottle of wine or a few chilled beers,

but who dictates who can and who can't. As long as they are of drinking age there cannot be any discrimination.


That means why should it be OK for some people to have a drink in the park and not others. ?


The whole issue is a grey area and I have been aware of it for a while now. I have raised this issue

with colleaques in the past. I ask the question if James Barber knows situation on the subject.

Im not convinced even the Police know.


DulwichFox

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > I've even heard of people having a drink when

> they

> > pick their children up from Nursery ..

> >

> > DulwichFox

>

> Err, not sure I should own up to it, but yes, I've

> done this too.... swung by the Great Exhibition on

> the way back from nursery for an apple juice and a

> packet of crisps (for the kids) and a pint (for

> me). Starting to feel like a rather bad parent.


I'm talking about walking into the Nursery where the kids are swigging a bottle of beer..


Is that good. ?


Foxy

Why on earth do you think it is a grey area? I haven't seen anything that suggests it is!


Everything in this country is legal - unless there is a law (statutory or common law) against it.


There is no law against drinking alcohol while having a picnic in a park. Drinking is not illegal unless there is an Order banning it, which according to the Southwark website there is not.


References to "street drinkers" do not include those having a picnic or casual drink - they are references to habitual, heavy, out of control drinkers (usually alcoholics) who sometimes hang about drinking on the street.


Just because James Barber made a comment in passing, about drinking in public, does not mean it is against the law. I suspect James did not intend to say it is illegal to have a casual/social drink during a picnic in Peckham Rye Park.


I suspect if you asked 100 coppers whether it was a criminal offence to have a drink with your picnic in Peckham Rye Park - 100 of them would laugh at you!

I have fond memories of a kids party where the bouncy castle was run by a jovial man with a beer in his hand and a roll-up hanging out of his mouth.


The party was full of regular non-uptight normal sane parents who didn't really give it a second thought because for the of god there have got to be other more important things to get bothered about.

rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > I've even heard of people having a drink when

> they

> > pick their children up from Nursery ..

> >

> > DulwichFox

>

> Err, not sure I should own up to it, but yes, I've

> done this too.... swung by the Great Exhibition on

> the way back from nursery for an apple juice and a

> packet of crisps (for the kids) and a pint (for

> me). Starting to feel like a rather bad parent.


My little one has a habit of shouting very loudly when I arrive at nursery "Hello Mummy, are we going to the pub?". Every time. It's because we wait there for daddy to swing by with the car to pick us up but it is a tad embarrassing...

All of Southwark is an Alcohol Control Area with the exception of East Dulwich, Village and college wards - Dulwich Community Council. The boundary for this is East Dulwich Road so the playground is IN the area of control.


In that area the Police or Community Wardens can confiscate any alcohol if they think the drinkers are causing a nuisance. If people refuse to hand over sad alcohol they can be arrested / fined ?500. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200030/community_safety_and_enforcement/405/drugs_and_alcohol/3


But are these people causing a nuisance. I haven't seen anyone suggest they area. At least their children have proper play equipment there rather than a pub garden.

The Alcohol control area does NOT make drinking illegal. Nowhere in the governing legislation or the Regulations does it render the possession or consumption of alcohol illegal per se - it merely gives the police a discretion in the event of anti social behaviour and is aimed at street drinkers (as the Southwark website makes clear) or people creating a nuisance.

The problem is interpretation. Clearly many on this thrtead think the current drinking is a nuisance. From what's been decsribed I don't.


To avoid this we stopped this offence applying to any part of East Dulwich, Village or College wards.

Robbin, that's correct. The Belgians are much more civilised in this regard. Most kids' playgrounds in parks are plonked right next to a bar, so the adults can have a beer while keeping an eye on their offspring. And no howls of outrage...

And again James the "offence" you refer to is to be a 'street drinker' or to be anti-social with your consumption - not consuming alcohol in public. You use the term too loosely, I think, and that could be apt to confuse (as it has some on EDF already). I think if you ask any Police officer what a street drinker or nuisance drinker is you will get close to the same answer and it wouldn't include a family having a reasonably quiet picnic. The suggestion that it might is bonkers.


It's an arid debate because in truth the answer to this is plain and obvious! Drinking in public is not an offence even where there is an alcohol control order - they only give a discretion to the Police to intervene to stop anti-social street drinkers or others causing a nuisance.

Hi robbin,

Indeed this is an arid debate.


When the motion at full council was made that brought this restriction in the Dulwich councillors were very clear that this risked social picnic etc style drinking could be interpreted to fall fowl of it. So Dulwich is exempt.


And Community Wardens employed by Southwark as well as Police officers get to make this judgement.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • While it is good that GALA have withdrawn their application for a second weekend, local people and councillors will likely have the same fight on their hands for next year's event. In reading the consultation report, I noted the Council were putting the GALA event in the same light as all the other events that use the park, like the Circus, the Fair and even the FOPR fete. ALL of those events use the common, not the park, and cause nothing like the level of noise and/or disruption of the GALA event. Even the two day Irish Festival (for those that remember that one) was never as noisy as GALA. So there is some disingenuity and hypocrisy from the Council on this, something I wll point out in my response to the report. The other point to note was that in past years branches were cut back for the fencing. Last year the council promised no trees would be cut after pushback, but they seem to now be reverting to a position of 'only in agreement with the council's arbourist'. Is this more hypocrisy from 'green' Southwark who seem to once again be ok with defacing trees for a fence that is up for just days? The people who now own GALA don't live in this area. GALA as an event began in Brockwell Park. It then lost its place there to bigger events (that pesumably could pay Lambeth Council more). One of the then company directors lived on the Rye Hill Estate next to the park and that is likely how Peckham Rye came to be the new choice for the event. That person is no longer involved. Today's GALA company is not the same as the 'We Are the Fair' company that held that first event, not the same in scope, aim or culture. And therein lies the problem. It's not a local community led enterprise, but a commercial one, underwritten by a venture capital company. The same company co-run the Rally Event each year in Southwark Park, which btw is licensed as a one day event only. That does seem to be truer to the original 'We Are the Fair' vision, but how much of that is down to GALA as opoosed to 'Bird on the Wire' (the other group organising it) is hard to say.  For local people, it's three days of not being able to open windows, As someone said above, if a resident set up a PA in their back garden and subjected the neighbours to 10 hours of hard dance music every day for three days, the Council would take action. Do not underestimate how distressing that is for many local residents, many of whom are elderly, frail, young, vulnerable. They deserve more respect than is being shown by those who think it's no big deal. And just to be clear, GALA and the council do not consider there to be a breach of db level if the level is corrected within 15 minutes of the breach. In other words, while db levels are set as part of the noise management plan, there is an acknowledgement that a breach is ok if corrected within 15 minutes. That is just not good enough. Local councillors objected to the proposed extension. 75% of those that responded to the consultation locally did not want GALA 26 to take place at all. For me personally, any goodwill that had been built up through the various consultations over recent years was erased with that application for a second weekend, and especially given that when asked if there were plans for that in post 2025 event feedback meetings (following rumours), GALA lied and said there were no plans to expand. I have come to the conclusion that all the effort to appease on some things is merely an exercise in show, to get past the council's threshold for the events licence. They couldn't give a hoot in reality for local people, and people that genuinely care about parkland, don't litter it with noisy festivals either.   
    • Aria is my go to plumber. Fixed a toilet leak for me at short notice. Reasonably priced and very professional. 
    • Anyone has a storage or a display rack for Albums LPs drop me a message thanks
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...