PLANS to drive drunken youths out of Audlem could be dashed after Cheshire Police insisted that alcohol exclusion zones would be an unnecessary and unworthy addition to the village.

The village's parish council has this week been championing the introduction of alcohol exclusion zones following a spate of drink-related incidents.

The idea is the brainchild of parish council chairman Mike Hill, who met with police chiefs to discuss the proposals on Monday.

The exclusion zones were launched in parts of Sandbach, Congleton, Alsager, Middlewich and Holmes Chapel last week, and the parish council is hoping to introduce similar zones in Audlem.

Under the proposal, the parish council would identify exclusion zones in the village, and anyone caught drinking could face an on-the-spot fine.

Failure to give up the alcohol would be an arrestable offence.

But although Cllr Hill believes the idea would be popular with Audlem's residents, Cheshire Police insist the level of drink-related crime in the village does not merit the introduction of the zones.

Community inspector Paul Jennings said: "The issues they have in Audlem aren't so serious that they require alcohol exclusion zones.

"The zones have to be enforced by police 365 days a year, and at the end of the day there are very few incidents there compared with other areas that also don't have zones.

"I don't think it warrants an alcohol exclusion zone at the moment.

"I honestly don't think it's an option, because there are no statistics to show that a zone is needed, and it's a costly business that I don't think would be worth it."

Although the zones are unlikely to be given the go-ahead, it is still an option that the police will look into following Monday's meeting.

Cllr Hill believes the idea would benefit the whole Audlem community by reducing drink-related crime and violence.

He said: "We first talked about this idea a long time ago, but it just died a death.

"I raised the idea again a couple of weeks ago, because we've seen quite a few youngsters in a very drunken state that are causing trouble.

"I sincerely hope that we can get the zones in place, because I think everyone in the village would benefit from it.

"Although it's just a minority of youngsters, they are intimidating some of the village's older people, and this proposal would put a stop to that."

amorrison@guardiangrp.co.uk