Clutha's new youth council has backed plans to ban alcohol in key public areas of Balclutha and Milton but also wants another part of Balclutha included.
A liquor ban has been suggested by police as a tool to combat trouble spots in both towns, which they say are almost always linked to young people drinking alcohol.
The areas in Balclutha include the immediate area around the war memorial hall and information centre, Renfrew St near the Hotel South Otago, the central Balclutha playground and adjacent skateboard ramp area and the entire central business area of Clyde St, from the bridge through to Gordon St near the Balclutha Mitsubishi business.
It would be a breach of the bylaw if anyone was caught drinking or possessing alcohol in those areas.
But the youth council believed another popular gathering spot, the Arthur Strang Reserve and boat ramp, should also be included.
Young people would tend to look for another gathering place if they could not meet outside the town hall car park, members felt, and the next logical venue was the riverbank area.
The youth council also considered the popular family area should have alcohol restrictions only at certain times and suggested a dusk-to-dawn alcohol ban there.
The youth council was satisfied with the area earmarked for Milton, which includes Moore Park, the Milton cenotaph and parts of Union and Grey Sts.
Sergeant Martin Bull, of Balclutha, who addressed the youth council on Monday, said police wanted to convey to visitors that Balclutha was a safe town but the sight of carloads of young people drinking in public areas "doesn't do that right now''.
A bylaw would be flexible in that other troublespots identified later could be added to the restricted areas.
The proposed draft bylaw will be tabled at tomorrow's meeting of the Clutha District Council regulatory services committee, which is expected to recommend the full council release it for public consultation.
Council chief executive Charles Hakkaart said this would involve a special consultative process which would give the public one month to consider the draft bylaw and make submissions.
The council was reviewing several existing bylaws which must be adopted by July 1 but the liquor bylaw was a new policy which did not necessarily have to take effect by then.
