A BAN on street drinking and approaching prostitutes in High Wycombe has been extended for another three years.

Two Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) were put in place in 2017 - banning those in High Wycombe town centre from drinking alcohol and those in Desborough Road from soliciting prostitutes - but they only last for three years and run out this month.

But on Monday night (February 3), councillors on Wycombe District Council’s cabinet agreed to extend them again for another three years, saying there were “clear benefits” to the bans.

The two bans were originally put in place as a way to tackle the ongoing concerns about antisocial behaviour in High Wycombe.

Dozens of complaints came from councillors and members of public about “nuisance” behaviour in and around Frogmoor – with drinking and anti-social behaviour blamed for shoppers avoiding the area completely.

And in September last year, Cllr Alan Hill said he feared prostitution around Desborough Road was “getting out of control”.

But a project was launched at the end of 2018 called the Desborough Road Outreach Project (DROP) to provide safeguarding and health support to sex workers in the area which has apparently seen huge success.

Extending the bans have been backed by HWBIDCo, the organisation that represents the town centre’s businesses – and Thames Valley Police have said that they have been “having an impact” on crime in the area, although they mainly use their own powers to deal with the issues.

In two surveys by Wycombe District Council - which saw a total of 64 responses - 91 per cent of people felt there was a problem with alcohol-related anti-social behaviour in the town centre. But a third of people said they felt it had improved over the last three years.

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced a range of powers designed to address anti-social behaviour, including PSPOs, which are intended to deal with a “particular nuisance or problem in a particular area that is detrimental to the local community’s quality of life”, by imposing conditions on the use of that area which apply to everyone.